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RALSTONISM 

THE HOPE OF THE HUMAN RACE. 



THIS BOOK 
Is the property of 


M.. 

whose Club-number as a Ralstonite is 

No. 



[ROTICE .— You should become a Ralstonite, because it is the duty of every good 
man and woman to take a strong stand for health and purity. Your Club-number 
may be obtained by procuring a copy of the Took of General {Membership of the 
Ralston Health Club, and using page 23 of that volume. You should then write your 
Club-number in the space reserved for it on this page. 




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©HIDE) LIF6 


-BY- 


EDMUND SHAFTESBURY. 


\ s 


Jk. Solution 
of I^epplo^iirig I^poblerqs. 


-±ii 


IN FIVE GRAND DIVISIONS 


1.—BEFORE BIRTH—Origin and Development. 

2.—AT BIRTH—A guarantee of absolute safety to mother and child. 

3.—DURING INFANCY—A daily guide. 

4.- ENTERING CHILDHOOD—A daily guide. 

5.—LEAVING CHILDHOOD—A daily guide. 


A BOOK OF 

Diet, Care and Treatment. 


Issued by thje 

HAESTOJY HEALTH @lub, 
WasHrigtor), E). ©• 


PRICE, TWO DOLLARS. 













_ 

Copyrighted 1897, 

BY 

RALSTON HEALTH CLUB ASSOCIATION. 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 




JZ-szoJ 

4 / 







PURPOSES OP THIS YOUUME 


1. To convey facts. 

2. To counteract the impressions created by false notions, 
erroneous traditions, and untrustworthy literature on the subjects 
herein presented. 

3. To protect woman against the abuses of which she is a 
victim. 

4. To save the mother from death and from unnecessary suffer¬ 
ing at the delivery of her child. 

5. To perfect the condition of the child that the offspring may 
not be deficient, marred, or sickly. 

6. To enable the mother to maintain her health under all cir¬ 
cumstances. 

7. To supply information to the parents that shall accurately 
guide them in their parentage. 

8. To lay the foundation for the better race of human beings 
by starting life aright. 

9. To solve in the light of the most recent science the many 
perplexing problems of the origin of the child. 




First Grand Division 



Child Life 

BEFORE BIRTH 



ORIGIN 

AND 

DEVELOPMENT 






CHAPTER I. 


[the relation of the club to child life.] 


DEGREES OF RALSTONISM. 


HE Ralston Health Club is the father of this little 



volume, as is well known. No organization or movement 


1 of modern times has created so wide-spread an interest, or 
accomplished so much practical good for men and women as has 
this club. It is growing rapidly. It is everywhere attracting 
attention; and, when its real purpose is known, all classes of 
worthy people, from the proudest to the humblest, embrace its 
doctrines and eagerly ask the privilege of aiding in the spread of 
its influence. 

It is because you will soon make a like request that this 
chapter is written. Child Life is valuable to every parent, whether 
man or woman ; but its value is increased a hundredfold by using 
it in conjunction with the General Membership Book of the Ral¬ 
ston Health Club. In other words, this volume of Child Life and 
that of General Membership are like wife and husband, best always 
in each other’s company; their offspring, perfect health, happiness, 
a home of content, and a life of prosperity. These are the four 
children of the wedded volumes. Ill health handicaps many per¬ 
sons ; success must be founded upon the clearest faculties, rightly 
used. Of the many lives of failures, due to a deficient mental 
capacity or sickness of the body, a large majority would have been 
turned into the channels of prosperity had the health been vigor¬ 
ous and the judgment accurate by reason of brain strength. That 
Ralstonism accomplishes what no other power has been able to 
achieve, is too well proved to be discussed. Hence the value of 
the companionship of the two books. 

A careful perusal of the next chapter will interest you in 
the Ralston Principles, and in the work of spreading them broad¬ 
cast over the world. Wherever they go their progress is rapid, 
and their results are marked by the changes for the better in the 





8 


CHILD LIFE 


lives they affect. Onward is our motto. New members are every¬ 
where sought. Ralstonism must spread at whatever cost. Ral- 
stonites very willingly engage in the work of securing recruits ; 
from the Governors of great States to the humblest toilers in the 
shop ; from the richest and most powerful women in society to the 
earnest mother in the cot. The spirit seizes them very soon. 
They find the object a noble one. Their good judgment is quickly 
in command. New members, more Ralstonites, must be obtained, 
and they leave no stone unturned in their splendid efforts to carry 
on the grandest movement of modern times. 

Efforts so freely made should not, and do not, go unre¬ 
warded. As each new recruit is secured, the Ralstonite advances 
one degree in token of the victory. There are one hundred degrees. 
For every General Membership purchased by any member having 
a club number, so we can record the fact, one degree is advanced. 
Thus, if you possessed a General Membership Book, and wished 
to advance to the fifth degree at once, so as to receive the great 
volume of Complete Membership free as an emolument, you could 
do so by purchasing five copies of General Membership and 
sending fifty cents for record fees, whereupon the emolument 
would be' yours. Any time afterward, at your leisure, you could 
sell to others the five books you had purchased, adding ten cents 
to each for your trouble, and the very valuable emolument would 
then have been clearly and cleanly earned. By this excellent 
system, now well tested and appreciated, one hundred dollars’ 
worth of the most costly emoluments are obtained without any 
cost whatever; and thus we reward the efforts of our members to 
spread Ralstonism. Thousands and tens of thousands are now 
advancing in degrees by this simple and effective method. 

The privilege of taking degrees in the same club is now 
to be extended to those who wish to use the present volume, 
Child Life , as a basis for advancing in such rank. The only condi¬ 
tion is that you own a copy of the Book of General Membership, 
and have a club number for identification. This being the case, 
the following special opportunity to make progress is extended to 
you, as stated in the rules; which are : 

1. You must mention your club number, so that we can find 
your record on our books by referring to it. 

2. You must obtain not less than five copies of Child Life at 
a time, and these will entitle you to advance five degrees. 


RALSTONISM 


9 


3. The regular retail price of Child Life is $2.00. The lowest 
wholesale price is $1.25. The latter is the rate per copy at which 
you may procure them. You may charge the retail price, and 
should do so in selling to other, unless you choose to favor friends. 

4. Degrees advanced in this way will be added to degrees 
already secured by you in the usual way. 

5. The emoluments, as soon as reached, will be sent to you; 
but no emolument will be substituted for another. 

6. It is agreed that, in case you do not oblige us by adhering 
to these simple rules, you will receive full value of your remittance 
in copies of Child Life , at $1.25 each; but will not advance degrees. 

7. The following form must be used. This is strictly required. 
Copy it in ink. 

FORM. 

To Ralston Health Club, Washington, D. C.: 

I enclose herewith money-order (or draft, express order, or 
cash registered) for $6.25 under the rules. Send me five copies of 
Child Life , and advance me five degrees as a Ralstonite. My club- 
number is. My name and address are. 

Copy the foregoing, and write your address very carefully, so 
that the books may reach you promptly. We pay all charges of 
sending. 

Prepaid. Believing that the wide-spread circulation of Child 
Life will accomplish a vast amount of good, the results of which 
will be far-reaching in their influence on the life of the nation, we 
propose to make an exception to the rule usually adopted by pub¬ 
lishers, and to Iprepay the cost of sending these books, whether 
sold at the retail price of $2.00, or the wholesale rate of $1.25 in 
lots of five. 

And now an explanation why this chapter opens this vol¬ 
ume. All we need say is this: Child Life has been written for 
members of the Ralston Health Club by their special request; and 
this request has been most urgent, amounting in fact to a demand. 
Thousands upon thousands of letters have been sent to us urging 
the preparation of a volume dedicated to the child, and its welfare; 
and to the care and safety of mothers in delivery. We waited 
until the pressure was too great to be resisted. 

Accompanying these demands were promises to aid in 
extending the influence of Ralstonism, by commencing where all 
great human changes should commence, namely, at the cradle; 




10 


CHILD LIFE 


from which the better race may be molded so carefully in its early 
years that its supremacy may follow as a natural sequence. It was 
charged against the Ralston Club that it neglected the very best of 
all opportunities by remaining silent on the subject of children and 
infants. From these observations it will be seen : 

First, that we were compelled to produce Child Life. 

Second, that the work is written for Ralstonites. 

Third, that members of the Ralston Health Club having made 
an overwhelming demand for the book, a due recognition should 
be given of their relations to the volume and its future missionary 
work. 

This chapter means much to them; as it opens an associate 
method by which they may advance in degrees in Ralstonism. To 
an outsider this advantage may be meaningless; but to a Ralston- 
ite it is of the very greatest importance. This, then, is our excuse 
for dedicating the very first chapter of Child Life to the most 
worthy of men and women, the true Ralstonites. 






CHAPTER II. 


BROKEN AND UNBROKEN LINES. 

E VERY human being was once a child; was once an infant, 
so helpless that a brief period of neglect meant death; was 
once a foetus, maturing and ripening in its imprisoned home; 
was once an embryo, struggling to take on the shape of man out of 
a mass of protoplasmic cells; was once a germ too small to be 
seen; was once nothing. Out of the great sea of absolute emptiness 
we came; to what ocean we float on the drifting tide of life, no 
one can tell. 

Before we were born other people lived. They had 
parents, or they could not have lived. Their ancestry was the 
surest thing in the whirl of a thousand uncertainties; for their 
parents could not have been on earth, had they not had ancestors; 
and they, too, had theirs. Where the beginning was no one 
knows. If there was a limit, it must have been a most remarkable 
occurrence ; and the breaking off of this ancestry, as we trace 
humanity backward, would be to our modern minds a tremendous 
event. Think, if you can, of this big globe rolling in space, an¬ 
swering to the call of night and day, warming and freezing as the 
seasons alternated; yet all deserted; still as the silence of deep 
solitude; empty of life, while the clouds rained, the rivers ran 
singing to the seas, the lightnings played merrily from sky to hill¬ 
top, the sun shone in blistering heat, and the moon clad herself in 
garments of silver to lead the glittering host of heaven along the 
pathway of the night. The little brook whose music is filled with 
melody to-day, was just as blithesome in the aeons that preceded 
the foot-steps of primitive man. 

You are the link in this long chain that, at some time, had 
a beginning. The continuance of the succession depends upon you. 
If you die childless, the chain is broken, is ended. No other being, 
in the future years, can take it up, or revive the issue. From the 
earliest era the succession has had no break, not one; for a single 
omission meant extermination. This chain that will be forever 
ended unless you continue it, is ten thousand years long, or more; 
nor can you name a possibility whereby it might have been sus- 

(ii) 




12 


CHILD LIFE 


pended, and yet survived. Had there been one break only, in its 
hundred centuries, you would never have been born. Whether 
the enormous importance of this fact impresses you or not, we can¬ 
not tell. It is true, you will say that others will more than make 
up for the omission on your part; but they cannot continue the 
lineage you cut off. Nor would it do, in principle, to say that 
others may take your place; for if all others took your place in 
non-production, the race would become extinct; and, less than a 
century hence, the sun would rise on a world suddenly depleted of 
its humanity. Even as it is, a simple agreement enacted by all 
persons, to bring no more children into being, would end all. 

If you are a decent and intelligent person, and you must 
be, or these pages would not hold your attention, it is your duty 
to keep alive a line of ancestry, now already ten thousand years 
long, and that has not had a single break in it since the first man 
appeared on earth. If you are grossly ignorant and unfit to pro¬ 
duce offspring, your race ought to end with your natural death. 
The point is this : the best physical, mental and moral types of 
men and women are slow to reproduce their kind, and they aim to 
bring into the world the fewest children possible; while, on the 
other hand, the lower classes, the indecent, ignorant, criminal, 
weak-minded types of men and women are stocking the land with 
their hordes of offspring whose numbers are fast outstripping the 
desirable classes. This portends evil, and has been the gravest 
problem in all the history of the world. It is true that intelligence 
and refinement are powerful influences in keeping the family small, 
for when a wife knows how to prevent maternity she will avail her¬ 
self of that knowledge, and with money to spend on fashionable 
practitioners parents will limit their duty, some to one child, others 
to two or three, when a minimum of four is required under the 
existing national conditions. 

Poverty offers no barrier to the increase of the family. 
Where ignorance, amounting almost to imbecility holds sway, 
nature is left to take its course, regardless of the ability, or even 
the willingness of parents to bring up the children. They come 
into the world helpless and innocent, with a right to be fed, clothed 
and educated, but they are half-starved, exposed to disease, and 
left to develop the criminal tendencies they already own by in¬ 
heritance. This has always been so, and always will be so until 
the combined strength of intelligent men and women shall operate 


BEFORE BIRTH 


13 


to apply the only remedy that can lessen the evil. It is to this 
end that these pages are issued. 

The author of this volume never writes without a purpose 
amounting to a mission in life, and the duty that he sees and feels 
clearly devolving upon him at this time is to press home the fact 
that the deep-rooted disease of this nation requires the immediate 
application of the remedy, or history will repeat itself here as else¬ 
where. A man made well by a vigorous life can digest a certain 
proportion of bad food every day, but when the proportion increases 
week by week and month by month until his system is overstocked 
with poison, he is no longer able to withstand the malady; so with 
a nation. Allowing that its criminal and imbecile classes are only 
the equal of the decent and intelligent classes in numbers and in¬ 
fluence, the knowledge and moral prestige of the latter will digest, 
eliminate, or hold in check the dangerous element; but let the 
vicious-half grow to three-fourths and the task becomes more 
difficult; let the men and women who would, if they dared, live 
by fraud, murder, and all the offenses of the criminal code extend 
their proportion to seven-eighths, as is already the case in some 
parts of the world, and the nation must succumb to the cancer. 

There are three ways by which to stem the progress of 
this dangerous disease, one is by revolution, another by punish¬ 
ment, another by regulating child life. All peoples from the dawn 
of history have rebelled, either as a nation or in sections of their 
national structure. The inevitable must always occur. In every 
country the extra increase of the families of crime, ignorance and 
imbecility has caused a loss of control by the intelligence of the 
people and disaster has followed. The French revolution was 
simply the bursting of the sore that for generations had been fester¬ 
ing to a head. The overwhelming majority of vice was able by 
numbers alone to level the monarchy to the ground, dethrone the 
king and queen, cut off their heads, and hold them bleeding before 
the appalled army, the protector of power. Crime and imbecility 
wait only until intelligent leaders are found who know how to ex¬ 
pand their ignorant prejudices into flames of revolt and murder. 
In America such leaders abound. Every now and then they 
imagine that the moment has arrived, but it is not yet ripe. 

Proudest among the nations of Old Europe is England; 
hut eight revolutions have swept her out of integral existence, and 
she is ruled to-day by a combination of French and German de- 


14 


CHILD LIFE 


scent. Queen Victoria is a German, and her nobility are largely 
French. When William the Conqueror landed in England, he 
found very little to conquer, except vice and ignorance ; these he 
used in founding his system of slavery, called, for convenience 
sake, serfdom by the historians of that country. The French were 
the masters and the English the slaves. Later on, when the 
vicious classes had sadly outnumbered their superiors, the latter 
inaugurated the system now so severely condemned, known as the 
penal code, that destroyed the lives of the unworthy. This method 
can never receive the sanction of Christian people, for it is wrong 
in principle ; yet it has saved England a score of times in the last 
three hundred years. The plan was to execute every person whose 
crimes indicated an unworthiness to become the propagator of 
the race. In an age when five millions dwelt in England, of whom 
four millions were dangerous to the life of the nation, and still 
more dangerous if they were allowed to propagate twenty millions 
as against one million of the better classes, the government pro¬ 
ceeded to lop off the possible mothers for serious offenses and the 
possible fathers for all offenses, light or serious. To steal an apple, 
or to threaten assault, was punishable by death, if the moral con¬ 
dition was low. One million people in power, holding ignorance 
as its tools, could, in one generation, check the progress of the 
majority, and could even exterminate them, should it so choose. 
The slaughter under the law, by sanction of the law and in private, 
covered so enormous a total of criminals, that it practically saved 
England. To-day she survives because she knows the greater 
number of her felons ; she watches them ; keeps them in prison ; 
and their children she holds in check in such a way that they do 
not become parents. In spite of these precautions, the offspring 
of criminals, generally illegitimate, are continually appearing in 
the large cities, especially in London, a world by itself; but the 
power of English intelligence, the most forcible on earth, is mani¬ 
fested in two methods of dealing with these classes ; first, she per¬ 
mits bawdy houses to exist by the thousand, where children are 
rarely born ; second, she sees to it that infants unfit to grow up 
and become citizens do not mature. While public records and 
open reports do not proclaim these facts, they exist nevertheless, 
and can be verified by any person who cares to take the trouble. 
Thus, with her prisons, her bawdy houses and her unwritten law 
of infanticide, England maintains her national safety. 


BEFORE BIRTH 


15 


As the methods are wrong in principle, they cannot be 
endorsed. We said there were three courses of procedure—revo¬ 
lution, punishment and child life. In America punishment will 
never be employed to decrease the criminals and imbeciles. Two 
remedies only are possible, revolution and child life. Revolution 
is cruel. It is simply the accumulation of vice, crime and insanity, 
grown to such numbers that force gives them temporary power; 
they then kill many of their enemies, the decent and intelligent 
people ; burn their houses; destroy public buildings; and, having 
tired of innocent blood, turn upon themselves and murder one 
another, until their majority is reduced to a minority. This is 
the story of the French Revolution. It is the story of every nation 
and people since history was enacted. To this end the American 
public is moving fast. The advance army of the red-handed host 
always leads the way, in the guise of agitators and assailants 
against the laws of peace and morality. This advance army is 
here. The prosperity of business, labor and farming is laid low 
by the continual turmoil of politics, due to the hundred thousand 
political agitators in the country. At any moment, when vice, 
ignorance and imbecility are aroused from their fears, they are 
able to lay low every institution and home in this fair land. 

Child Life has a mission to perform if it is not too late. 
It is the third remedy ; and the only one that is humane and 
Christian-like. It does not believe that the offspring should be 
punished for the criminal disposition inherited from guilty parents ; 
but it does believe that the right of guilty parents to bring criminal 
offspring in the world should be checked. It believes that two 
million Caucasians whose intellect is so low that they and their 
children are dangerous members of society ; that one million imbe¬ 
cile Caucasians; that eight million criminal Caucasians; that seven 
million imbecile negroes ; and one million criminal negroes ; or a 
total of nineteen millions of unfit, dangerous and prolific propa¬ 
gators of humanity should be deprived of bringing into the world 
annually a vast horde of children that must, by their excessive 
numbers, soon threaten the life of the nation. It believes that 
such propagation should be stopped at once, if it may be done so 
without injustice to any person. In the first grand division of 
the present volume, Child Life will perform its mission in this 
direction. 


CHAPTER III. 


WOMAN’S MISSION ON EARTH. 


[ZIEZ] 

I N normal conditions every woman should bear chil¬ 
dren. 

This is the 11th Ralston Principle. 

These principles are the eternal truths of nature, and no person 
can afford to ignore them. They are scattered through various 
books, all blended into one system of knowledge, so prepared that 
they may be easily understood by all who read. Very few indeed 
of the Ralston Principles are limited to either sex. Out of the total 
number of one thousand, less than ten, or one per cent, are in¬ 
tended for women only. They apply to humanity, arid matters 
involving the interests and welfare of humanity, alike to both 
sexes. Every true lover of right methods, of eternal justice in the 
administration of Nature, should accept the Ralston Principles, 
which are Nature’s laws; or should accept as many of them as 
may be understood. Time alone is required to make them all 
appreciated and welcome; for some are new, in vital form, to 
readers whose investigations have been limited. Hope and ambi¬ 
tion are essential to happiness in life, and happiness is essential to 
health. The best presentation of hope and ambition is found in 
the thousand Ralston Principles, contained in the necessary books 
of the course, of which there are an exact number, each devoted 
to some great work. 

The acceptance of many, if not all, of the thousand Ral¬ 
ston Principles, is an act of importance, and it ought to be an act 
of pleasure, owing to the great help they will be ever afterward to 
the life of the person accepting them. Some persons may delight 
to keep a record of them by numbers, and the date of conversion 
to any one or more of these crystallized truths, may be recorded 
against the number. Others will go so far as to commit to memory 
the entire thousand, and know them instantly by their numbers ; 
as No. 1 contains such a law, repeating it; or No. 963 contains 

( 16 ) 






BEFORE BIRTH 


17 


such another law, repeating that. In the not very distant future 
the Ralston Principles will be so committed to memory ; for they 
contain a complete equipment of mind and matter for human life 
on earth, or immortal aspirations toward the hereafter. As will 
be admitted by all who read them, no University, for man or 
woman, can impart so broad a field of education, of learning, of 
culture, of philosophy, of practical knowledge, or of thorough and 
lasting preparation for the real duties of life, as these thousand 
Ralston Principles. Let any person, of either sex, be conversant 
with these unchanging laws, from the beginning to the end of the 
system; and it is quite safe to say that such person is equipped 
for the battle of life, is ready to meet the world and the ablest 
competitors in it, to discuss any question under any circumstances, 
and to take rank with the foremost educators of the day. This is 
a great deal. But the Ralston Principles are a perfected compre¬ 
hensive University in the form of books ; and are finely appreciated 
as the least costly means of thorough education to be had. 

The books required are fewer in number, are much larger, 
and far more valuable, while less expensive than any set of books 
called for in University training, or in any profession. They con¬ 
tain the gems of knowledge brought from a hundred thousand 
volumes, into eleven. They are never technical, never verbose, 
never dull. It is for the reason of their great concentration that 
all persons should seek to master them, and thus understand fully 
the principles that are crystallized in their pages. Reading around 
these laws is valuable. Studying and reviewing the principles, 
until you are finally led to accept them, is still more important; 
and keeping a record of them by numbers, in some blank book, 
devoted exclusively to the purpose, is warmly advised. It is 
pleasant to report to the Ralston Club, Washington, D. C., such 
Ralston Principles as you accept and the date of each acceptance. 
Refer to them by numbers, and we shall then know the volume 
and class of principles accepted, as there are a fixed number of 
them in each of the eleven volumes of the system. They are 
classified according to the great divisions of human interest. Thus, 
the few presented in this little book, which is but one part or 
adjunct to a larger volume, are devoted exclusively to the questions 
involved in the consideration of child life. 

These introductory remarks may be concluded with the 
statement that, in order to reap the largest measure of benefit to 


18 


CHILD LIFE 


yourself, the way should be paved to the spreading of the Ralston 
Principles; on the theory that what is general or universal, is of 
greater advantage to each individual. An example of this is seen 
in communities where there are but few Ralstonites; it is difficult 
to obtain the pure foods, wholesome regulations and excellent cus¬ 
toms that are found in other places where there are many Ralston¬ 
ites. In union there is strength. No person is more directly 
interested in the spread of these doctrines than you. We are 
making every possible effort to increase the membership of the 
club, for this very reason ; and the many emoluments offered, are 
intended to spread our membership very rapidly. But we are, of 
course, dependent upon the influence of Ralstonites, of whom we 
hope you are one. We are urging them, in all ways, to aid us in 
this one great purpose—the spread of Ralstonism. For this reason 
we desire to give you special encouragement, by asking you to take 
advantage of the DEGREES stated in the opening chapter of this 
volume. Do not pass it idly by; it means much to you, and 
much to the club. 

We thus come naturally to an examination of these 
laws that are clothed with so much importance. In normal con¬ 
ditions every woman should bear children. The conditions known 
as normal, in this respect, are marriage, health and fitness. As 
has been stated in another volume, all persons should marry, 
when the conditions are normal; and the reasons are given quite 
freely. In this book we deal with the child question exclusively, 
and that includes its antecedents. Marriage in a male should not 
take place until after the age of twenty-one. The best children 
are born of mature men and young women. A girl who has en¬ 
tered upon the functions of womanhood, may, two years there¬ 
after, marry with perfect safety, provided the functions have been 
regularly established. While the ideal marriage is that of a ma¬ 
ture man and young girl, it does not, by any means, follow that 
this unusual combination is easily obtainable; and it, therefore, 
cannot be the subject of the present treatise. 

Mothers do not know, nor are they readily convinced, that 
extremely youthful wives make the best women in every sense. 
Society decrees otherwise, and otherwise it must be. The chief 
fault in such marriages is the youth of the husband. Out of a collec¬ 
tion of twenty instances of girls under sixteen wedded to men over 
thirty, where the facts were authenticated more than ten years after- 


BEFORE EIRTH 


19 


ward, it appeared, without a single exception, that the marriages 
were happy and prosperous. Eighteen of the husbands had ac¬ 
cumulated wealth since taking wives. If the best purposes of na¬ 
ture were to be adopted, or could be adopted—we are sorry to say 
they cannot—a girl should marry at fifteen, have her first child at 
sixteen, her second at twenty, her third at twenty-five, and her 
fourth at thirty; and she should bear no more after that age. 
Four children are the complement of any woman’s debt to the 
world ; to exceed that number is to make an unjust draft upon her 
system. 

It is, perhaps, presumptuous to give advice as to marriage 
and child-bearing to women who have never yet selected a hus¬ 
band and are not likely to do so, for some years at least; but our 
purpose is to deal with exceptions rather than with the ideal 
methods of nature. Although uniformity of results cannot be ob¬ 
tained in all cases, it is nearly always true that a young wife be¬ 
comes a more sensible, more moral, and more attractive woman, 
than girls who spend their youthful years in any other way, how¬ 
ever advantageous it may seem. But as the majority of women 
are married at an age more advanced, many when past thirty, they 
stand in greater need of advice and care than if they had entered 
the wedded state at an earlier period, when the body is more 
supple and the processes easier and safer. Child-bearing is never 
dangerous under the age of twenty, unless the wife is sickly or 
extremely lazy; but, as each year is added, a degree of doubt 
must be added also ; past thirty the wife has much to fear in her 
first maternity. 

Every woman owes to the world a duty that she can¬ 
not honorably avoid, if the conditions are favorable. Her realm 
is her home, her crown is the record of four healthy children 
brought into existence. Two persons, reproducing two only, 
would lay the foundation for the extinction of the race; as not all 
persons would reproduce. If no children were born, the death- 
knell of humanity would be sounded a few years hence. If the 
refined and intelligent parents are to omit the duty of rearing 
families, the ignorant and criminal classes must soon control the 
entire race. The best women should bring the greater number of 
children into the world for the sake of the nation’s future welfare. 

Apart from this view of the matter, it is the one great 

goal for which woman was created, to reproduce the race. All her 

, 


20 


CHILD LIFE 


construction tends to this end. From the moment she herself 
begins life, the organs, cords, veins, bones, muscles, and habits of 
development, grow toward the consummation of her being, like so 
many wheels, large and small, in a complicated machine built to 
mark the time of day. With a multitude of details in her anatomy 
specifically designed to generate and develop her young, with an 
unceasing demand from every part of her system for the fulfilment 
of the one great purpose for which she was created, with the dis¬ 
appointed organs drying up and shrivelling with cancerous tenden¬ 
cies when the hunger of her life is unappeased, she can no more 
afford to pass this duty by than she can afford to perpetually blind¬ 
fold her eyes or stifle her hearing. The eye was made to see ; and 
what shall we say of those who deny it the privilege for which it 
exists ? 

A healthy woman may bear a child, at any age from the 
youngest to the limit of her period of maternity, generally when 
forty-five years old. As we have said, sixteen is the most favor¬ 
able age at which to begin child-bearing; and delay adds difficulty; 
hut, after the first child is born, delay is of little consequence. 
Usually, at any year, the subsequent children are more easily 
brought into the world. Starting with the proposition, as stated 
in the 11th Ealston Principle, that every woman should hear 
children, provided the conditions are normal, we must ask our¬ 
selves two questions : What are normal conditions, and how may 
the principle he carried into effect? As long as the world lasts there 
will be exceptions to every rule; and the foregoing principle will 
not be adopted even by all who accept it. For instance, a man 
may agree to the principle, and may very properly notify us of his 
acceptance of it; yet he cannot adopt it; though, as far as his 
influence goes, he may aid in its adoption. But there are also 
women who belong to the better classes, women in normal condi¬ 
tion, who prefer to remain single, or who may prefer to remain 
motherless even though married. Even they may accept the 
principle, and at the same time choose to be among the exceptions, 
for reasons satisfactory to themselves. We state these matters, 
because Ealstonism is not unfriendly to exceptions, hut recognizes 
them as aids whereby rules and principles are made to stand forth 
more clearly. 

The normal conditions are stated as marriage, health and 
fitness. The first of these, marriage, is the highest type of earthly 


BEFORE BIRTH 


21 


life; and, if it is a failure, it is due always to some abnormal con¬ 
dition. Such disasters are preventable to a large extent by a change 
in the methods of granting the license. Uniform marriage laws 
throughout the United States will settle this most vexing question ; 
and, until such laws are made, it is useless to attempt a reform of 
the blight now cast over this relationship. A sentiment, however, 
in favor of early marriages, will do much to lessen the distaste 
that arises in forty per cent of cases, after the parties are tied to 
one another; a distaste for the state and for each other. All other 
nations except the American, protect the sex of woman during the 
pliant years, between fourteen and twenty-one. In this country, 
perfect freedom and liberty is the rule. Girls are allowed as much 
of these Americanisms as they desire. The result is that a girl of 
twenty-one, in ninety per cent of all cases, has met scores if not 
hundreds of men under circumstances more or less gilded, has 
learned to expect so much of the opposite sex, that, when the 
domesticity of pure home hie is offered her, she cannot see its 
opportunities for comfort and happiness, but has a kaleidoscope in 
her mind turning all her thoughts back to men’s faces, walks, 
talks, confessions of love, promises of romance, fascinating situa¬ 
tions, sub-rosa flirtations, and years of nervous excitement akin to 
the feelings of one who might hold a ticket to Paradise without 
knowing what train to take in order to get there. The man who 
marries a girl whose years have been sufficient for all these silver- 
plated experiences, will obtain a wife whose thoughts are for years 
afterward riveted upon other men than himself; a wife who grows 
restless under the burdens of wholesome duties; who accepts the 
holy plainness, the sacred simplicity of home life, as things abhor¬ 
rent; who becomes disloyal to her husband and her home, in 
wish, in temper, in act; until the disagreeable features of both 
natures, cat-like when unsheathed, make future love and confi¬ 
dence impossible. 

A girl does not know her mind, it is said, until she is 
twenty or more. If a girl has been properly brought up, she 
knows her mind at fifteen. If she is a doll, a puppet, a shallow 
thing at fifteen, she will be more shallow at twenty, and is un¬ 
desirable at any age. Allowing for a certain few exceptions 
that everywhere are found, the following divorce table is uni¬ 
formly correct throughout the United States. Of all the divorces 
granted : 


22 


CHILD LIFE 


One per cent were in cases where the wife was married at the 
age of fifteen. 

One per cent, and a very trifle over, not equal to one-and-a- 
quarter per cent, were in cases where the wife was married at the 
age of sixteen. 

Six per cent were in cases where the wife was married at the 
age of seventeen. 

Seven per cent were in cases where the wife was married at 
the age of eighteen. 

Four per cent were in cases where the wife was married at the 
age of nineteen; an age that, for some unaccountable reason, seems 
to be unusual in marriage. 

Eight per cent were in cases where the wife was married at 
the age of twenty. 

Twelve per cent were in cases where the wife was married at 
the age of twenty-one ; a time when many girls enter wedded life. 

Sixty-one per cent in cases where the wife was married after 
the age of twenty-one. The percentages do not give exact fractions. 
Thus, if the per cent was more than six and a-half, we call it 
seven ; if less, we call it six. 

We have based the table upon deliberate marriages, not 
upon runaways and elopements suggested and enacted under ex¬ 
citement, without love and a sincere desire to establish a home. 
It is a well known fact that some of the happiest weddings, and 
purest of married lives, attended by abundant prosperity, have 
originated in elopements, or runaway matches. It is possible that 
a certain proportion of these have been inspired by parents who 
desired to escape the expense of elaborate wedding receptions. 
The facts are herewith presented in order to encourage early mar¬ 
riages for girls, both for easy maternity and happiness in the home. 

The question will be asked, ought not a young lady to 
acquire accomplishments? Yes. If she loves music, or can be 
taught to love it; or, if she has a taste for anything that makes 
her more attractive, more refined, more graceful, more beautiful, 
more intelligent, such taste should be encouraged ; if she lacks the 
inclination for these better influences, the taste should be inspired, 
created if need be, and cultivated. No girl ought to be permitted 
to neglect these things. But music and art are best encouraged 
after marriage, if they have been neglected in early years; for they 
should properly begin at six or seven. The parents can give these 


BEFORE BIRTH 


23 


advantages to the married daughter as well as to the single daugh¬ 
ter ; and they should take pleasure in doing so. The young wife 
with a piano in the new home, is far more happy during the early 
progress of her music, when her ambition is shaping itself around 
new conditions, than she would be in the parent’s house, banging 
away at a stint that is measured by minutes not by genius or even 
affection for the old thing. 

For her other accomplishments, whether for mind, for 
body, for heart, or for disposition, let her seek the Ralston Club and 
the courses of study therein presented; health in the first five de¬ 
grees ; strength, good form, and perfect physical development in the 
next five degrees; grace, deportment, etiquette and refinement in 
the next ten; ethics and character in the next ten; a complete 
general education in belles-lettres and all useful knowledge, in the 
next ten ; and so on, through every grade of training and education, 
until the eleven courses are completed, if she desires so many. 
These studies are for private life ; and are never so fascinating as 
when husband and wife, or lover and sweetheart, are pursuing them 
together. They will prepare a girl or a woman for her highest aspi¬ 
rations, even in the greatest triumphs of social prominence ; and, 
best of all, they will give her refinement, ease, self-control, ready 
knowledge, mental ability, influence and the charms of magnetism 
for any position or department of life. More than this, the com¬ 
plete education and training of the Ralston Club is safe. The daugh¬ 
ter is not subjected to the temptations of the boarding-school or the 
fashionable seminary. While there are a few that are helps and not 
hindrances to the moral and intellectual growth of girls, the major¬ 
ity, and by far the great majority, are hot beds of vice, coarseness, 
slang, silly fads and weak mental development. The proof of this 
is in the graduates of such schools ; a proof that may be very readily 
established. There are, we are glad to say, some notable and noble 
exceptions. 

Thus far we have cleared the ground for the work that is 
to follow. We have stated the age when girls may best be mar¬ 
ried, and have shown that education and accomplishments may 
best be acquired in connection with marriage than previous to it; 
and, as marriage is of necessity one of the three normal conditions 
of maternity, it was proper that all these suggestions should be 
carefully presented. The next condition is health, and the third 
is fitness. 


CHAPTER IY. 


A BUREAU OF MARRIAGE. 


cm 

D ISEASE should not be transmitted to offspring. 

This is the 12th Ralston Principle. For information 
and suggestions as to these principles, of which there are 
one thousand, reference should be had to the remarks that follow 
the 11th Ralston Principle, in Chapter III, of this book. 

It is not necessary that disease be transmitted where it 
is curable, and where it is incurable, no person with the least 
remnant of sense would wish to inflict it and its life tortures upon 
an innocent child. When it may be cured, it should be before 
maternity, whether it is present in the body of the husband or wife. 



In figure 1, the blood disease known as scrofula, is shown in the 
face of a woman who, being thus afflicted and knowing it, did not 
hesitate to enter the marriage state and bear children, seven in all. 
One of these was born with scabs and sores on his body, and died 
in a few weeks, after great suffering; another was apparently well 
until six months old, when he began to pine away, lingering for 
four months more and dying. The others survived, and are alive 
now, with the exception of one that died a year ago from blood- 
poisoning. Of the five now living, four are girls; the fifth is a 
young man, whose foot was amputated at the ankle some months 
ago, to prevent the spread of blood disease, caused by the throw- 

( 24 ) 






BEFORE BIRTH 


25 


ing of a stone, which bruised his instep, and set in motion the 
disease he had inherited from his mother. Scrofula, or blood 
eruption, or any of its many related maladies, is an unfortunate 
inheritance. It originated in sin, and travels in the blood of many 
generations, often lying in wait for a disturbing cause to give it 
development, a friction of the skin, a blow or bruise upon the flesh. 
We are acquainted with the judge of a petty court, who lost his 
foot in exactly the same way, for the same reason, being struck 
upon the ankle by a rock. He never knew he inherited scrofula 
until this accident revealed the hidden malady. 

We mention this disease because it is one of wide-spread 
existence; and is probably dormant in a majority of people. 
We mention it because it is one of those middle-ground maladies, 
which give rise to so many doubts as to whether the patient or af¬ 
flicted person should or should not be allowed to marry. Where 
the' disease has already broken through the skin, as in figure 1, 
whether upon the face or any part of the body, the man or woman 
so troubled should be prohibited from marrying; and this prohi¬ 
bition should be enforced under United States laws and through a 
bureau established in every country. The cost is of less consequence 
and of less amount than the expense now borne by the public to 
maintain disease and poverty associated with the present condition 
of things. 



To enumerate many maladies would be a waste of time. 
Some are general, like scrofula and consumption. Others are less 
prevalent. Some are difficult to cure, others yield under proper 
treatment; and even scrofula and consumption may be overcome 




26 


CHILD LIFE 


by natural methods. The autopsy of many persons who have died 
of other causes, show the remarkable fact that a very large propor¬ 
tion of humanity have had consumption or tuberculosis at some 
period or other of their lives; in many cases it has healed; in many 
others been held in check, as though waiting for the vitality to be¬ 
come weak, so that the dormant germs could renew their ravages. 

A prominent physician, who has spent many years in the 
study and treatment of this malady, and who has witnessed a large 
number of autopsies, declares that ninety per cent of men and 
ninety-three per cent of women, by approximate estimate, are carry¬ 
ing this disease in greater or less degree in their bodies. At the op¬ 
portune time it may break forth to make sudden progress to the 
end ; or it may linger for years fighting the vitality, until the latter 
weakens as it does sooner or later; though many another disease 
may carry the victims to their graves before this matures. In the 
list of courses referred to in the preceding chapter, as evidence of 
the completeness of the Ralston Club in meeting all conditions and 
requirements of human life, it will be seen that the tenth degree 
course, including chest cultivation, is a part of this system. That 
course is an absolutely sure preventive of the spread of consump¬ 
tion or tuberculosis, and can cure, as it has already done, even 
within three months of the grave. 

The question to be considered, however, is what shall be 
the limit of the prohibition of marriage in the case of consump¬ 
tion ? Figure 2 presents the case of a woman not yet forty years 
old, who has recently married her second husband, and has, within 
six years, given birth to three children, all of them victims of 
tuberculosis, showing that it has been in her system for a long 
time, she, herself, being of very great vitality, yet far gone in con¬ 
sumption. The facts were known to her husband, who is an igno¬ 
rant fellow, totally incapable of knowing the gravity of his offense, 
yet able to become the father of many children. One thing is 
clear, that neither he nor she should have been permitted to enter 
the marriage state ; at least she should not have been allowed to 
consummate this second contract, being an advanced consumptive, 
and having three children suffering from the disease by her former 
spouse, yet green in his grave. 

Under the law, as now constituted, any two persons old 
enough may enter the marriage state and bear children ; a foully 
diseased and disgusting specimen of the lowest dregs of humanity 


BEFORE BIRTH 


27 


may unite with another equally unfit to propagate; and may bring 
into existence a dozen children to suffer, to endure the agonies of 
disease, to be punished, to linger in jail, hospital or poorhouse, 
and find release only in the oblivion from which their vile and 
ignorant parents had no right to extract them in the beginning. 
Why? Because this is a land of freedom, and everybody is at 
liberty to do as they please. America will some day stagger be¬ 
neath the load she is carrying, and if American institutions do 
not topple to the ground, it will be because the intelligent people 
arouse themselves in time, which is now, and check the cancer 
that is eating its way into their national life. It is not pretended 
that every diseased man and woman may be denied the right to 
marry ; but it is certain that when the constitution is permeated 
by a loathsome or transmittable disease, to an extent sufficient to 
endanger the health of the offspring, or pass down to them an in¬ 
heritance of suffering, the law has a right, and should consider it a 
duty, to step in and interdict the proposed marriage. 

A national bureau of marriage will sooner or later be estab¬ 
lished in this country. Why not now? It is a necessity. It 
need not be a burden. It may cost money to maintain it, but 
could be supported by reasonable charges, without expense. 
Even though it should require money for its maintenance, the vast 
amount of taxes it would save in public charities would stamp it 
as the best financial investment of the age. It need not be arbi¬ 
trary. Where there is any reasonable doubt as to the health of 
the applicant for a license, it could give the benefit of the doubt 
to such applicant, and thus be a blessing to those it denied the 
privilege, as well as to the state and the offspring. This subject 
should be thoroughly discussed in the meetings of the Ralston 
Club, being held all over the country, and all over the world, in 
fact. A Ralston Club is organized under the charter contained in 
the complete membership book. The plan is very simple. There 
are no dues to pay. The purpose is to spread these principles and 
right the wrongs now everywhere prevalent, and everywhere widely 
spreading. The times portend danger. True men and women 
will lift up their voices to aid in righting the conditions that are 
steadily drifting evilward, and that must soon carry the nation to its 
grave. Your duty is clear. The greatest of all dangers is the 
willingness to wait until some one else starts the ball rolling. You 
have no right to wait. 


CHAPTER Y. 


PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVED. 


[ZJ3Z] 


I MBECILITY should not be transmitted to offspring. 

This is the 13th Ralston Principle. For information and 
suggestions as to these principles reference should be had to 
Chapter III of this volume. 

The word imbecility is used in its Ralston sense, which 
very nearly coincides with the meanings given in the dictionaries, 
and in medical as well as legal books. It is a percentage word 
used to mark the height to which intelligence has gone or is capa¬ 
ble of going. Thus, when the leading medical experts of Europe 
and America declare that the negro is sixty per cent imbecile, yet 
fully accountable for his crimes, it does not mean that the negro is 
insane, for it is agreed that an insane African is excusable for his 
misdeeds. An imbecile is a low order of intellect, thoroughly sane 
by all the physical tests known, yet blighted in mind to such an 
extent that he is of but little use to himself and a burden upon the 
community in which he is reared. 

Ignorance is capable of being taught, imbecility is not, 
except as an animal may be taught, though in different lines of 



Figure 3. A Caucasian Imbecile. 

development. In Figure 3 is presented the face of a perfectly sane 
man who has been married for some years. He was put to school 

( 28 ) 






BEFORE BIRTH 


29 


when a boy, but could not learn to read except to spell out a few 
lines of simple words, and he writes his name and six or seven 
common ideas sufficient to put into a letter for which he receives 
the credit of being able to read and write. He works sometimes ; 
does not drink liquor ; never was arrested ; yet has a faculty for 
taking things that do not belong to him ; has walked the streets at 
night dressed as a woman, frightening ladies and children, some¬ 
times springing from behind trees in the dark, and popping over 
fences in other instances. His freedom from arrest is due to the 
idea that he is not accountable, but we do not share this belief, 
and to test it a citizen threatened to kill him if he scared women 
again. Since then he has subsided. His sanity is clear enough, 
but he is an imbecile, a low order of intellect. From the history 
of similar cases he will lose his sanity eventually, commit murder 
and die in an asylum. 


Figure 4. Child of the Imbecile. 

A low order of intellect may accompany ignorance, but it 
is because of lack of opportunity to develop the mind. Imbecility 
is a blight, a condition where the mental faculties find a barrier 
beyond which they cannot go, no matter how great the urging. 
The ignorant become the parents of the intelligent, but ignorance 
in such sense is lack of literary culture. Some of the grandest 
minds of the world have been bred by people who could neither 
read nor write, yet they had a liberal share of good hard common 
sense. It is true that for rank and cast there are many graduates 
of universities who have not a tithe of the common judgment pos¬ 
sessed by men and women who never had a moment s education. 

The important difference between the status of the ignor¬ 
ant and that of the imbecile should not be lost sight of. The 
difference is this : Ignorance may breed intelligence under the in¬ 
fluences of education and experience; imbecility can never breed 
intelligence, no matter what advantages of education may be 




30 


CHILD LIFE 


offered, nor what influences may be thrown around the individual. 
He will turn when least suspected, and kill the man or woman 
that protected him. In figure 4 is seen the child of the man re¬ 
ferred to in the description under figure 3. The face is one that is 
inferior to its father. The child will be permitted to grow up. 
He is now a danger to the lives and safety of children, and will 
some day be a source of great danger to the people of the various 
places he may visit. These imbeciles never improve. They often 
hold their own until the time when age weakens their faculties, 
and insanity may or may not follow. 

The problem in their case is the fact that many of the 
low intellects that are undoubted imbeciles can read and write, do 
work, go about their regular duties and bear all the semblance of 
whole mental faculties. They have no trouble in obtaining mar¬ 
riage licenses in this country ; and, as there are all grades of in¬ 
tellect among women, they find wives sooner or later. If they 
became extinct thereafter, or if children w r ere not born to them, 
the difficulty would solve itself. Themselves not to blame for be¬ 
ing in the world, they are entitled to justice, mercy and patient 
forbearance. The plan of Ralstonism is to provide a means of 
prevention, rather than a cure; hut a means so effectual that the 
danger will be brought to an end in the next few years. 

The subject has claimed the attention of many thought¬ 
ful men and women, but it has never yet been brought to a focus. 
That a speedy and decisive method should be adopted, all think¬ 
ing people agree ; although they have advanced various sugges¬ 
tions of relief without understanding the difficulties that lie in the 
way. The Ralston Club has spent years in the examination of the 
question, and has consulted with the ablest lawyers, physicians, 
clergymen and legislators, with a view to the enactment of laws that 
shall be just, humane, merciful and prompted by a Christian spirit, 
but intended to go right on to a definite goal, the absolute preven¬ 
tion of the prevalent increase of crime, vice and imbecility. The 
method to be put in operation by the Ralston Club is stated in the 
next chapter. It has the approval of good men and women every¬ 
where—north, south, east and west—including the leading repre¬ 
sentatives of religion of every denomination, in every state in the 
Union. Its earnest adoption by you, without waiting for others, 
means much to the people; for millions of your mind will rise up 
with you and without your knowledge, to aid in its enforcement. 


CHAPTER YI. 


THE NEGRO QUESTION. 


A NORTHERN lady traveling in the South, had with 
her a beautiful daughter of eighteen, and another of nine; 
both of the gentlest disposition. This woman and her two 
girls were enthusiastic admirers of the negroes, of whom she had 
read in books and papers; and her daughters, the children of an 
ardent abolitionist, regarded the anti-racials as pets, who had been 
wronged for generations. The world has come to regard slavery 
as wrong in its principle; and that issue is forever dead. The 
living problem is what to do with the swarming millions of negroes 
that have overrun the South, and are slowly moving to the North. 
The lady and her daughters found them honest, delightful sun¬ 
beams of humanity ; as simple as kittens playing in a basket. A 
private letter from a cousin in a Northern State, announcing that 
a burly negro had cut the throat of a white teacher after outraging 
her, did not deter the mother from entertaining an honest African 
and his son, the latter not over fourteen or fifteen years of age. 
That same day this lady was gagged with kerosene oil rags, then 
dragged to a swamp and tied to a tree, where she was compelled 
to witness the outrage of her daughters, by six negroes, two of 
whom were the honest African and his strapping boy. 

There is to-day living in a Northern State, a white 
woman who is now married; and who has succeeded in keeping 
from her husband, the story of her full outrage at the hands of a 
negro in the South. Revolting as the account must be, the mother 
of this victim was traveling in the South at the time of the com¬ 
mission of the crime; knew all about it, and, as her daughter was 
engaged to marry a man of wealth in the North, she persuaded 
her to keep the matter quiet, as it would certainly end the engage-* 
ment. The facts are known to her relatives in the South as well 
as in the North, including the brothers of the victim ; but no one 
yet has deemed it wise to inform the husband. The circumstances 
of the crime were most abhorrent, and the deceit, stealth and low 

(31) 




32 


CHILD LIFE 


cunning of the imbecile negro most despicable ; or the opportunity 
for the offense could never have been created. 

Low cunning and deep shrewdness are marks of an 
imbecile mind. They sometimes outwit the keenest man. So do 
animals at times, such as the fox, the beaver, the bear, the wolf 
and the rat; being possessed of trickery that would indicate a 
genius of invention, were it not a fact the brute instinct employs 
deep laid plans and cunning devices to effect its ends. A man unfa¬ 
miliar with the ways of a bear or fox, would ascribe to them an order 
of intellect above the average human species, in so far as it appears 
to operate. This low cunning is also a characteristic of the negro 
race. They do not employ the Caucasian methods of deceit, but 
adopt and invent schemes of their own ; sometimes so honest that 
their explanations are irresistible. They are actors in one line 
only; that is the assumption of an honest face. 

The negro possesses two senses, sex and digestion. For 
these he would plunge to death. All other parts of his nature are 



Figure 5. .Negro Imbecile. 


either effervescence or dregs. We once asked an ardent admirer of 
the race, to furnish us with a photograph of the best type of the 
full blooded negro; and the result is seen in Figure 5. Physiog¬ 
nomy tells you that the forehead indicates an inability to acquire 
or propagate a degree of intelligence above the grade of the imbe¬ 
cile ; that the eyes denote treachery and a willingness to murder 
the best friend; that the mouth is the highest expression of the 
most intense animal and brutish sensualism; yet this face was 
attractive to a woman because it was more intelligent than a dog’s. 

Traveling all through the States, north and south, the 
author has found the following classes of opinion on the negro as 
a human being: 


BEFORE BIRTH 


33 


1. Those who know nothing about him are inclined to admire 
him, because of his race. 

2. Those who know him as the murderer of friends, the vio¬ 
lator of daughters, the cut-throat thief of the night, hate him and 
believe that he should be promptly punished for his crimes. 

3. Those who know him as the descendant of a benighted and 
unfortunate race, deprived by nature of the advantages enjoyed by 
Caucasians, are inclined to investigate his condition, test his means 
of advancement, offer him equal opportunities with his superiors, 
and defend him against injustice in every form. 

Several hundred thousand of the best people of the North 
have gone into the South to live or to travel. Before leaving the 
North they were rabid believers in the suggestion that the negro was 
maltreated by the Southerners ; and this they carried with them as a 
prejudice against the white people of that section. But when they 
came in contact with the negro himself, his methods, his beastly 
and brutal disposition, his drunkenness, his defiance of law, his- 
terrorism, his slovenly laziness, his polygamy, his wife-beating pro¬ 
pensities, his robberies, his coarse and horrible profanity, his night 
prowling and gambling, his refusal to learn, his universal falsify¬ 
ing, his lying in wait for girls and women, his outraging of old 
women, young women, girls and even small female children, his 
murders and tortures of his victims, these several hundred thousand 
men and women from the North have, without exception, changed 
their prejudices and become sympathizers of the people who are 
now overrun by the hordes and swarms of black imbeciles by the 
millions, filling every nook and corner of a land that will never 
smile again in plenty until this negro question is solved. 

Any lover of facts should travel over the ground where the 
facts are; and we challenge any impartial, unprejudiced, honest 
historian to find a single man or woman from the North who has 
been in the South long enough to ascertain the truth, who is not a 
believer in the statement that the presence of these millions of 
negroes is a calamity of the gravest kind, and that the fearful rate 
of their increase over all others is certain to precipitate a bloody 
era of black anarchy, unless the white intelligent population unite 
in their efforts to check the progress of the disease when there is 
yet time; which is now. Moreover we assert that the most in¬ 
tense and rabid haters of the African race are Northerners, who, 
•coming into their midst with hearts full of preconceived sympathy, 


34 


CHILD LIFE 


are more than shocked to find the hero of their romance a debased 
and filthy criminal. We further assert that the men who instigate 
the lynching of criminals that have outraged women and girls, are 
Northerners as often as they are Southerners. 

Yon are sensible and you are human. We put the ques¬ 
tion to you, with this thousand-times repeated annual fact, and 
ask you, what would you do? You have mother, wife, sister, 
daughter, perhaps a little girl, whom you love, and for whom you 
would lay down your life; this loved one, precious above all others, 
is found by you insensible or dying, in the grimy embrace of a 
lascivious fiend whose vile passion has made her his victim. What 
would you do? You have him in your power; and at his feet the 
tender child lies dead. He has outraged her chastity. He has 
killed her. If he goes now, the law may never find him ; or the 
stupid delay of the courts with the chicanery of its modern prac¬ 
tice may dally with him for months and'years. 

Are there exceptions to the general debasement and low 
order of intellect among the negroes? Yes, there are some. There 
are exceptions to everything. If the exceptions were numerous 
enough to he of any moment, we might take hope; but, while the 
thin-haired theorist fools away his time in vapid possibilities, the 
black race is raising children so fast that no census-taker can enu¬ 
merate them. This fact is an important one. Where there are a 
thousand negroes in one community, the census-taker reports two 
hundred. He cannot find the full number, and his requests for 
information are met with evasions. One black couple had four¬ 
teen children under one roof; and in the same house another 
darkey couple had twelve; and another had eleven; thirty-seven 
young blacks in the same house, all reared by three couples; yet 
the census report showed eight, or a deficit of twenty-nine. Towns 
and cities, wishing for large populations in the census returns, are 
desirous of reducing the number of negroes, as immigration is re¬ 
tarded ; and the black population is never fully made public. We 
state this, because, despite the rapid increase of the negroes, as 
shown by the census, they are producing still greater numbers than 
are so shown. They are probably between eight and sixteen mil¬ 
lions now ; over half being females. If these females produce one 
child to every eight of their number, each year, which is the low¬ 
est average among the negroes of the South, there will be born in 
the next ten years, allowing for the added increase, ten millions 


BEFORE BIRTH 


35 


more negroes; and in the next thirty years, or a generation hence, 
there will be fully fifty million negroes in this country. There 
is no race or class that is increasing one-third as fast as they are at 
this time. 

What has this to do with child life ? Much, and in many 
ways. Before you die you yourself may be the victim of this evil 
of imbecile child-raising. We have heard people say, ‘ ‘ The future 
generation will have a blood-curdling experience, but we shall be 
gone, and will not have to meet the question. ” This is cowardly. 
Have you no love for your children ? Are you wdlling to die with 
the thought that an evil that you could have eradicated is to 
imperil the lives of your children? Is that honest? Would you 
place in the homes of your loved ones serpents that would not 
mature their deadly poisons until after you had passed out of life’s 
drama, knowing that your children must become victims of your 
act ? Of what value is the lesson of patriotic example taught us 
by the men of 1776, who laid down their lives for the generations 
that came after them ? 

But the evil will mature before you die, or else the remedy 
may produce results in your lifetime. This much may be depended 
upon. What is the evil ? It is twofold, showing itself; first, in 
the overwhelming increase of a worthless and dangerous mass of 
humanity; second, in the propagation of an order of imbecility 
that unless checked will never be eradicated. Such an outpouring 
of diseased minds on the country must of itself produce disastrous 
conditions, to say nothing of the criminal dispositions accompany¬ 
ing them. The remedy is stated in this chapter. It is the only 
remedy that can reach the malady. There have been various 
schemes advanced, but they have applied to the disposal of the 
evergrowing flood instead of cutting off its source. 

The remedy is in the law stated in the 13th Ralston Prin¬ 
ciple, imbecility should not be transmitted to offspring, but it is 
as well found in the 14th Ralston Principle, which says that crime 
should not be transmitted to offspring. The 13th Principle involves 
a humane and Christian method of prevention; the 14th a just 
means of punishment. The following details are generalities agreed 
upon by all counsellors, medical men, clergymen and legislators 
to whom the plan has been submitted during the last ten years, for 
which time it has been under examination. It is a matured and 
substantiated plan, with all its possibilities, its criticisms, its 


36 


CHILD LIFE 


antagonisms thought out and carefully considered in the construc¬ 
tion of its details. These details we will first present, and then 
explain, after which the mode of procedure will be given. 

1. The method is emasculation, or depriving the male of the 
power of propagation. 

2. It shall apply as a punishment for crime against offenders, 
and thus reach those who have become adults. 

3. It shall apply as a prevention to the extension of the class, 
and thus reach only young babes at an age when the operation is 
natural and always satisfactory. 

4. It shall apply equally to all people, whether Caucasians, 
Mongolians, Negroes, or others, without reference to race, color, 
or previous condition of servitude, and hence it will not be known 
as class or race legislation. 

5. The crimes for which it shall be used as a means of punish¬ 
ment shall be those fixed by the law-making power of each state 
in the usual way and with equal justice to all its citizens. 

6. The prevention of the transmission to offspring of disease, 
imbecility and constitutional tendencies to crime, shall be used 
upon male babes only, unless by consent, as hereinafter stated, and 
in all cases, shall be done under authority of the law-making 
power of the state, and by a medical and surgical board, created 
by law for that purpose. 

7. It shall not be used except when, in the opinion of said 
board, there is the clearest evidence of its necessity in protecting 
this nation, or its people in any community, from the present fear¬ 
ful increase of the evils mentioned. 

8. Any person having the right to consent to said operation 
upon himself, or upon a minor son or ward, shall be paid by the 
state a suitable sum for each individual so operated upon, but the 
official consent of said board or bureau shall be required, and it 
shall not be given unless for the causes stated in paragraphs 6 
and 7. 

9. No person, capable of propagating offspring not dangerous 
to the state or nation, shall be so operated upon, with or without 
consent, and it shall be made a felony to do this under any cir¬ 
cumstances. 

The foregoing nine details constitute the plan of proced¬ 
ure. In explanation of them, the question of emasculation is en¬ 
titled to chief consideration. It is nothing more nor less than the 


BEFORE BIRTH 


37 


act of depriving a male of the power to reproduce. It is, in child¬ 
hood, a simple, safe and sanctioned practice, authorized of God, 
recognized in the Bible, and repeated millions of times in every 
generation of mankind, since the history of the world began. It 
softens the disposition, makes a ferocious and brutal specimen of 
humanity as gentle as a lamb, gives him grace and natural refine¬ 
ment, a long life, and a high degree of happy contentment. He 
is called a eunuch, and in old Bible days eunuchs were employed 
as chamberlains because they were able to do more and harder 
work than females, kept more steadily at it, and were safe attend¬ 
ants on the ladies of the household. Monarchs, nobles, and all 
persons of rank, trusted their wives to the care of eunuchs, and 
this custom prevailed for fifteen hundred years throughout all 
Europe, and is now confined to Spain, Italy, Turkey and Greece, 
although existing in other parts to some extent. It is estimated 
that there are three millions of eunuchs engaged in honorable and 
high-caste employment in Asia at the present day. 

Among the prominent eunuchs of history, we find 
Narses, the Byzantine general; Bagoas, the Persian minister; and 
Phileterus, King of Pergama, all of them having been emasculated 
in early life. There is, in Moscow, to-day, a community of 
eunuchs, jewelers by profession, many of them very wealthy, who 
increase their numbers, under sanction of the law, by taking boys 
as wards and making eunuchs of them. In Italy there are many 
of this class, but not as many as formerly, when they were kept for 
their finer, gentler voices, as soprano singers. In Grecian history, 
during the romantic Byzantine period, a large proportion of the 
males were eunuchs, so made as a sort of fashion, and principally 
to lessen the evils of war, for the hatred, malice and vicious 
tendencies of humanity are not found among this class of men. 
It is said of them that they are cowardly, and wfill not fight, ex¬ 
cept when defending ladies in their charge, but a man may not 
fight from inclination or disposition, as well as from cowardice. 
The unwillingness to pick a quarrel or to become abusive, or to 
commit crimes, ought to recommend the custom of emasculation 
of Negroes, Chinese, and all imbecile, vicious or dangerous classes 
to the conservative and intelligent masses of our people. 

While this method will settle the negro question, and 
givq to the nation a promise of a brighter future, it will also be of 
immeasurable advantage to the persons themselves, the Negroes, 


38 


CHILD LIFE 


Chinese, and other classes of low or deficient intellect, who shall 
be made eunuchs. It will elevate them to the very highest plane 
among their people. As attendants, ladies’ companions, confi¬ 
dential servants, singers, and fine employes, they will be in great 
demand, receive the highest wages, and occupy the best positions. 
If any philanthropist desires to do more for these down-trodden 
people than has ever yet been accomplished, let him advocate this 
method, and work night and day unceasingly until it has become 
a law. It is true that it will enable us to witness the end of the 
entire negro race in a few years ; but this end will come naturally. 
It will wrong no one. It will avert the shedding of blood; and 
no other plan, conceived or conceivable by man, is able to attain 
so desirable an end as this. We challenge any one of the false 
friends of the Negro and Chinese, to point out any other solution 
of the question. Those who have attempted to solve the problem, 
long ago gave it up. It is this or nothing. 

The mode of procedure is in a twofold form: first, to 
educate the voters by creating a strong public sentiment in favor 
of the law of emasculation; second, by calling all good men out 
of the conflict of various political parties, and uniting them in one 
grand effort to make the law a provision of the State Constitution, 
and afterward of the United States Constitution. Now let us go 
to work. We are in earnest. Are you? The steps to be taken 
are the following: 

1st Step. —Act on your own volition. Do not wait to be 
asked. Do not wait to find out who, if anybody, intends to join 
the movement. Do not seek aid or advice or suggestions, until 
you have acted ; until you have done something. Do not expect 
us to advise with you, as our mails are loaded so heavily that it is 
impossible to enter into correspondence, however much we desire 
to do so. 

2d Step. —Gain at once the moral support of the mothers, 
wives, sisters, daughters, everywhere. Their influence, if com¬ 
bined, is able to enact any law they desire ; for they will not be 
denied a request universally asked. That they will support the 
13th Ralston Principle is certain. We have the promise of an 
army of mothers and wives to fight this battle for humanity. 
They, with us, hope for the day to come when their sex will be 
protected from the most horrible of dangers, and daughters will be 
safe by day or night. 


BEFORE BIRTH 


3d Step. —Adopt and circulate the resolution of iron. This 
is the following, which should be copied in ink, and signed in ink, 
with the full name and address of the signers. “lam in favor of 
the 13th Ralston Principle, and will do all in my power to have 
it made a law.” You should obtain five signers of your own sex; 
and more, if you will ; but be sure to have each signer agree to 
add or procure five more. It is better to have all men, who are 
voters, sign resolutions of iron by themselves ; and women by 
themselves. 

4th Step . — Work to secure the signature of every voter in 
your legislative district; do not let one escape. Give their names 
to the ladies, if men will not push the matter; and let the fair sex 
work to secure the promise of every voter. 

5th Step. —Do not allow any candidate to be nominated for 
the legislature in your district, unless he pledges his honor to 
introduce the bill, or support it, and fight for its speedy enactment 
into law. 

6th Step. —The wording of the bill must be left to the proper 
committee or framer, not to us. We will not have the presump¬ 
tion to act as law-maker. It is far more wholesome for each state 
to have a bill worded by its own people, and suited in language to 
its own temperament. 

7th Step. —A law of this kind passed by unanimous consent, 
or by an overwhelming majority, will have a moral force the 
advantage of which cannot be estimated in advance; therefore, 
endeavor to secure all the legislators, or candidates, by writing to 
your friends and acquaintances throughout your state, and setting 
them to work. 

To the legislator who introduces the proper bill and 
urges it on until it is enacted, the Ralston Club of America will grant 
the highest honors of the Club, and will elevate him to the 100th 
Degree at once, awarding also the emoluments, advantages, and 
books containing the one thousand Ralston Principles. All these 
benefits also will be granted to any person, not a legislator, who is 
first or foremost in arousing public sentiment on this subject, and 
secures the absolute promise of a legislator to introduce the bill, 
fight for it, and make it a law. It will be the greatest revolution 
in the history of the world, and its coming will be on wings of 
peace, attended by no conflict, and working its results with justice 
to all and unkindness to none. 


CHAPTER VII. 


CHILD LIFE OF THE NATION. 


CZFZ 3 

G RIME should not be transmitted to offspring. 

This is the 14th Ralston Principle. It is of the same 
nature as that preceding; but different in all its opera¬ 
tions. Many of the ablest physicians and humanitarians regard 
the method of emasculation as the only protection to the public. 
Their reasons are brief but conclusive. In the first place, the 
criminal is regarded as diseased; some believe that he is of 
disordered nervous temperament; some find him constituted as 
deficient in mind, or insane, as in the case of the kleptomaniac; 
others state that the fluids of his body are so impaired from birth 
as to make morality impossible. We do not believe fully in any 
of these theories. Our claim, as stated and proved in the Ninetieth 
Degree book of the Ralston Club, Immortality , is that the soul be¬ 
comes insane, and is thereafter incurable. 



A specimen of soul insanity is found in the character pre¬ 
sented in figure 6. This man is of Caucasian ancestry; and has 
no trace of anti-racial blood in his veins, unless it is a very indis¬ 
tinct strain of Tartar or Mongol; and this is hardly discernible. 
There is a visible relationship to the Slavs noticeable. But, wher¬ 
ever his ancestry diverged from a moral status, if it ever occupied 

( 40 ) 






BEFORE BIRTH 


41 


such rank, he is a hopeless criminal. His father was convicted 
and sentenced to twenty years for homicide ; his grandfather was 
hung for murder; and this man, figure 6, was permitted to grow 
up, marry, raise children and develop a nature beyond his control. 
He is a convict, a murderer. Why was there no law to prevent 
his father from giving him parentage? Why was there no law to 
prevent him from propagating more of his race and bringing up 
three desperate hoys, all indifferent of human life? 



America is a free country. It has about seventy millions 
of inhabitants; and of this number, a proportion of her importa¬ 
tions will be found difficult to digest. Figure 7 is almost a coun¬ 
terpart of figure 6, except that the parentage is not known. The 
same doctrine of soul insanity holds true. The face and features 
are those taken in early life, yet the student of the heart and face 
may readily discern the lines of treachery controlling the mouth, 
nose and eyes, and indicating the criminal despite the assumption 
of smoothness and contentment. A very close study of the Chinese 
discloses the fact that they, as a race, are treacherous, cruel and 
criminal by instinct; but held in abeyance through fear, and 
especially through the inherited memory of tortures devised by 
their own countrymen to deter criminals from their evil ways. It 
is strange that, when the mind is unbalanced, the fear of certain 
punishment will hold many individual acts in check; but that, 
when the soul is insane, the criminal goes right on. The deed 
must be committed. The presence of a detecting eye, the warning 
of danger, may postpone the act, but the knowledge of certain pun- 


42 


CHILD LIFE 


ishment has not power enough to prevent its consummation. This 
is a broad and important distinction. 

A mind that is unbalanced is sometimes incoherent, and 
one who has to deal with its owner never knows at what moment 
the sense will fly away, but in the case of soul insanity the mind 
is generally sound. Thus, in the course of conversation with the 
person whose face is presented in figure 6, there is soon seen 
evidence of a steady mind, a strong intellect, although of a deficient 
grade and an adaptation to business. He is clear-headed, but 
cloudy in his moral atmosphere. 



Figure 8. Italian Criminal. 


The individual whose picture is represented in figure 8 
was once the subject of an inquiry that may be worth repeating 
here. Seeing him at work with Americans an observer asked the 
question, ‘ ‘ If you had a hundred dollars and that man knew it, 
would you be willing to sleep in the same room with him over 
night ? ’ 9 The man to whom this inquiry was directed, asked, why 
not; but finally admitted that he would not feel safe. The question 
was then carried farther, ‘ ‘ Do you believe that Italian would 
hesitate to kill you if he could not get your money in any other 
way?” It was afterward a piece of police history that this same 
fellow, an importation, murdered a small American boy for six 
dollars. 

The same law of criminal tendency holds true in all 

anti-racials, and in those who are descended from mixtures of anti- 
racials. The Indian of figure 9 was the noble son of a most 
treacherous and bloodthirsty father ; he had the advantages of a 
Christian humanity, the offer of civilization, education and train¬ 
ing, and these he accepted until the inherited disposition took 


BEFORE BIRTH 


43 



complete possession of him and he seemed compelled to obey its 
instincts. The government of the United States favors the increase 
of these anti-racials, and does more to foster their children than is 
done for the offspring of white blood, yet if anything is true it is 
clear that the race ought to die out by emasculation. It is in¬ 
humane to encourage the creation of children whose lives can only 
be a burden to themselves and to the nation. The Indian is treach¬ 
erous by nature. Fear may deter him. His surroundings are 
such as to keep him out of mischief, but let the conditions be 
changed and he would let his dormant nature forth and massacre 
as willingly as he now swallows whiskey. Our position is this, 
that anti-racials are the universal, natural foes of the Caucasians, 
as they have always been the foes of civilization and human prog¬ 
ress. Wherever the white man has taken a step forward out of 
the blackness of a savage past, some anti-racial has stood in his way 
with uplifted weapon to strike him down. The world desires no 
more of these natural criminals than it is compelled to take, and 
for the sake of the coming generation the hordes of their descend¬ 
ants, Mongols, Negroes, Italians, Chinese, Indians, Spaniards, and 
their cousins, should be prevented from unloading their offspring 
upon this country. 

The true lover of America is a defender of the Caucasian 
race, as against all the world. History speaks of but one class as 
humane and progressive. To it we owe our lives, our schools, our 
charitable institutions, our inventions, our literature, our Chris¬ 
tianity. Every race of people, except the Caucasians, are cruel, 


44 


CHILD LIFE 



Figure 12. Egyptian Criminal. Figure 13. Malay Criminal. 


uncivilized and pagan at heart. Not only do we not desire them 
and their offspring in our national make-up, but the dormant in¬ 
fluence of their brutal and criminal nature should be checked in 
the mixtures that are inflicted upon us. In other words, we mean 
to say that the disease known as crime is soul insanity, due to the 
mixture of the Caucasian with anti-racial blood. Our process of 
proof and the facts involved would, if presented here, take up 
many pages ; but this is the conclusion, fully warranted by the 
evidence. In every case of confirmed criminal tendency it is pos¬ 
sible to show that the offender is descended from a mixture of 
Caucasian and anti-racial blood. There are many authoritative 
rules by which the matter may be determined. 

The lesson to be drawn is plain. Strict rules against 
miscegenation or intermarriage of the Caucasian and anti-racials 
should be enacted by law in every state in the Union, and in some 
of them are already in force. 







CHAPTER VIII. 


INFLUENCES BEFORE BIRTH. 


[ZD 


HE child is marked with the mental character of 
its mother. 



1 This is the 15th Ralston Principle. It does not refer to 
the mental status, for that almost invariably comes from its father, 
This distinction is of the broadest importance, and should not be 
lost sight of for a moment. For an example : Let us look at the 
offspring of the American Indians from their marriages with the 
Caucasians ; as it is always evident, the child of a white mother 
and red father is of the same low mental status, or condition, as 
the Indian. The mental influence of the mother does not appear 
in the child in anything like the arithmetical proposition that 
might be carelessly claimed. She does not stamp her brain upon the 
offspring in the sense of overcoming the barbaric condition of its 
father. Her children are half-breeds. In the details that make 
up the body, and in characteristics, both parents exert an influ¬ 
ence. Thus, the red color would ordinarily be lessened one-half, 
though not always ; and the observer would detect the Indian and 
the Caucasian as being about equally present in the child. Yet, 
as it grew up, it would never rise perceptibly higher than the 
brain calibre of the father. 

Let us follow the same line of propagation. The half- 
breed of the red father and white mother is a female, we will say, 
and grows up to marry a full-blooded Indian. It is the half and 
the whole. Naturally, the child of this marriage should be more 
Indian than Caucasian ; but the scant testimony obtainable is suffi¬ 
cient to establish the universal fact that the mental status of the 
grandchild is lower than that of its grandfather, indicating quite 
certainly the danger of permitting this kind of miscegenation to 
continue. Among the offspring of reds and whites, in reverse 
parentage, the results are quite different. We have followed the 
lives and development of a number of persons grown from child¬ 
hood to maturity, and our conclusions have been concurred in by 
the experiences of others. It is always true that the low state 


( 45 ) 






46 


CHILD LIFE 


of intellect of the full-blooded Indian squaw is not imparted to 
the offspring if the father is a Caucasian of high mental status. 
Of course, the half-breed is the child of both parents, and will 
show the physical and general mental traits of both ; but, despite 
the supposed distribution of the two bloods in the offspring, it is 
able to shake off almost entirely the low mental state of the 
mother under the influence of the paternal intellect. The lesson 
is a plain one. 

The same law holds true in all other cases of miscegena¬ 
tion. If the negro becomes a parent by a white woman, the child 
will be as low in intellect as the father, although a mulatto in all 
other respects. Let a negro become a parent by this mulatto, and 
the child will be of lower mental status than its grandfather, who 
was full-blooded. This law of perversion and decay has been 
seen operating in many old world tribes, some of which have died 
out in the third generation of miscegenation ; or, to come nearer 
to the probable truth, have been found so vicious in morals and 
weak in body and mind as to fall prey to enemies who might 
quickly learn to hate them for their depravity. Thus, an anti- 
racial father would control the intellectual status of his offspring in 
miscegenation, and the child of that offspring would be lower down 
in the scale if propagated by a full-blooded anti-racial. The danger 
is in the male parent, rather than in the female. If the laws of 
existence were to be obeyed, the males of full-bloods, half-bloods 
and quarter-bloods of any non-Caucasian race should be emascu¬ 
lated, or prevented from propagating; and the world, in a few 
years, would be vastly better for it. But sentiment, rather than 
wisdom, has full possession of those who alone are able to enforce 
this law of human life, and mankind suffers. 

We come now to mental character as distinguished 
from mental status. The word status is a forceful one, as it repre¬ 
sents a combination of state and condition, or rank and elevation 
in the scale of value. The word character applies to the garb or 
dress in which the status may be clothed. Thus, a child is a 
child, and its mind is in the condition of a child’s, but the charac¬ 
ter of that mind may be good, bad or peculiar. The best of the 
negroes are sixty per cent imbecile, and that is their mental status, 
but the character may be gentle, rough, violent, coarse, stupid or 
vicious, as all grades of intellect, from insanity to perfect clearness, 
may take on these variations of garb. 


BEFORE BIRTH 


47 


It is decreed by nature that the father shall impart to the 
child his mental status, and that the mother shall contribute her 
mental character. The dress, foliage and growing shape of the 
tree are due to one cause, while the value and condition of the 
main part of the tree are due to another. So with the child. The 
Caucasian mother of a half-imbecile child may make the best of 
what she finds in her offspring, but she cannot raise its mental 
condition to a level with her own. So any mother may make or 
mar the mind of her infant, at any time from conception until it 
has passed out of its youth. This power to give shape and charac¬ 
ter to the child intellect is a sacred trust that may be faithfully 
executed or wantonly betrayed. The mother is held directly 
responsible, whether she knows it or not, and whatever may be her 
accountability hereafter, she will, if she lives, be compelled to 
witness in the ever-present character of her child, the faithlessness 
of her own conduct in its management. 



Figure 14. The Superstitious Mother. 

The high and low grades of mental character are found 
in all phases and in all classes of society. Among the poor and 
ignorant are many women who are endowed with good common 
sense and a high order of mind, for the condition that environs it. 
From such mothers may come the better intellects of the next 
generation. Among the rich and educated are many women wha 
are endowed with very shallow minds, and despite their superior 
advantages, the children of such mothers occupy an inferior plane 
of intellectuality. The brainiest of the world’s men have come 
from mothers uneducated, but of strong mental character; while 
the shallowest of men have come from mothers of good education, 
but of weak mental character. 


48 


CHILD LIFE 


The flattest of weak minds is that of the person who is 
abnormally superstitions. The true typical face of the woman 
whose thoughts are eternally rambling among good and bad omens 
is seen in figure 14. This lady is of good birth, of excellent educa¬ 
tion, and noted for her love of the best things of life, but she is full 
of signs and their meanings, commencing in the early morning 
and extending through the day up to the last moment of conscious¬ 
ness. To see her and hear her talk one would naturally expect that 



Figure 15. Child Marked With Superstition. 

she would become the mother of a bright boy, but her only child 
is shown in figure 15. He is marked. In the illustration his 
face is shown in repose. This is the way he looks at you ; it is 
his expression at the table ; in play ; at his studies ; at school; at 
church ; everywhere. He is marked in his mind, and the latter 
is interpreted in the face. His mother has a dozen superstitious 
omens to be settled before she is dressed in the morning ; another 
dozen at the table; a hundred during the day ; more at night, 
and her last thoughts before going to sleep are of some dreaded 
mishap connected with the number thirteen, with Friday, or some¬ 
thing else. She knows fully three thousand rules or sayings of 
superstition, and she knows but little else. The fault might be 
overcome; could, in fact, be overcome by the exercise of will 
power. To all who possess this evidence of an abnormal mind we 
recommend the School of Character , a hook of human ethics. 
Many women, while awaiting the arrival of the babe, have studied 
and practiced the one hundred points of character contained in the 
book referred to with great advantage to her offspring. The work 
is very properly a part of the set of emoluments in our club, and 
without it the latter would he imperfect. 

All the evidences of mental weakness cannot be pre- 


BEFORE BIRTH 


49 



Figure 16. The Gossiping Mother. 

sented in these limited pages. It is enough that the principle be 
established by a sufficient number of examples. Gossip is, like 
superstition, prominent among the leading characteristics that 
mark children. Why it is so may be ascertained by an analysis 
of the mind that indulges in this most extraordinary way of pass¬ 
ing the time. We are not about to lecture or condemn those who 
must either gossip or be miserable, but we would suggest that the 
habit be lessened as much as possible during the months that pre¬ 
cede the birth of the child. The brain begins to form active 
impressions about six months before birth, and this would be a 
very good time to suppress the habit of gossip and save marking it. 



Figure 17. The Child of the Gossiping Mother. 

It need not be entirely dropped if the strain is too great 
to be endured, but for the sake of your child’s future, and to pre¬ 
vent giving it a birth mark of mental deficiency, try to lessen to a 
minimum degree the practice of gossiping at such time. Do not 
discuss the affairs of other people more than twice a day for awhile. 

This will lop off considerable. The scandals that you hear and 
o 


CHILD LIFE 


SO 

repeat should be reduced to one a day, unless they are very mild, 
in which case two a day may be served up, but without trimmings. 
Things that are none of your business might be so regarded by 
you, without much loss of prestige among your neighbors, if you 
would take the trouble to explain to them the reason of your ex¬ 
traordinary conduct. These remarks are not made to the true 
women who have enough mental character to avoid bespoiling their 
minds with the habit of gossip, but they apply to others who prac¬ 
tice this sin, and are not so much to blame for it as the world thinks. 

Study the two faces presented in figures 16 and 17. 
The woman is the mother of the boy. The portrait is of her own 
choosing, for it is her photograph taken at her best and at that 
moment when the artist told her to smile. Yet all the blandish¬ 
ments of feminine assumption cannot smooth out the lines that 
■the perennial gossip develops in her face. The nose inflates in 
excitement during the discussion of other people’s affairs, their 
.scandals and misdeeds ; when the details are shocking or salacious ; 
the same nose contracts in misery when the same bit of news has 
previously reached the ears of the person to whom it is brought; 
and between these two noses the woman acquires a distinct type 
of gossip-nose, easily discerned by the public. It makes no dif¬ 
ference what size, length, breadth, thickness of nasal appendage 
nature has bestowed or intended to bestow on the female, the 
muscular lines about the organ are one and the same in all gossip- 
•ers. Then comes the familiar law of giving to the unborn child a 
birth-mark. Figure 17 is the son, unfortunately, of a woman 
whose mental disease, for which she is not fully to blame, is her 
fascination for talking about people. This boy is nose-deformed. 
The mother is a notorious talker, as the distinct gossip-lines about 
her mouth clearly show. She talked on an average of four hours 
a day for months previous to the birth of the boy, including in 
her conversations almost nothing except the doings of her neigh¬ 
bors and other people, whose every deed, real and surmised, she 
discussed and criticised, without regard for the truth or falsity of 
anything she said. It was at her suggestion that her boy’s picture 
was taken, and she professed to believe that he was a handsome 
boy. In a mental sense, he is birth-marked by the gossip-lines of 
his mother; and this kind of marking is as effective and un¬ 
pleasant as any that can be inflicted on the child. 

It must not be forgotten that the brain of the unborn 


BEFORE BIRTH 


51 


offspring is a part of the neryous system of the mother; and that 
as her own brain is fed by the impression made on her nervous 
system, so the infant is influenced by the very causes that control 
her mind. In other words, the child is in touch with the mother. 
This has been shown to be true in thousands of cases; and might 
be demonstrated in almost every life, if it were possible to arrive 
at the facts. The well known bits of public biography are no more 
strange than the unpublished accounts in every-day life. The fact 
that, a few months before Napoleon Bonaparte was born, his mother 
witnessed a battle that deeply impressed her mind, is in the same 
line with the inventor’s inheritance of a passion for his work, 
coming from the mother’s reading and re-reading a book that dealt 
with the subject of inventions. The love of oratory was shared by 
Daniel Webster’s mother; she having listened to a very eloquent 
.speech a short time before he came into the world. A private 
instance may be cited to show the influence exerted over the off¬ 
spring, by allowing the mind to have undue freedom of action, 
during the development of the unborn child. A woman whose 
husband was a man of scholarly refinement and religious life, and 
honest in every respect, was herself equally well endowed. It was 
said of them that a child of the marriage would be one of whom 
they could be proud. The mother, about five months before 
delivery, received a visit from a former schoolmate, a lady of most 
liberal modern views, who had but recently learned to follow horse¬ 
racing, and to bet on the wrong horse in every instance. With 
her visit she brought the usual horse-race-gambling passion; which, 
once acquired, cannot be shaken off by a man, much less by a 
woman. She explained the process of betting as indulged in by 
the fashionable women of large cities; the exciting run of the 
horses ; and all the hilarious exhilaration of gambling in this way. 
While the mother disapproved of the crime of betting, now legal¬ 
ized by the consent of the sinning classes of fashionable society, 
she was impressed by the repeated rehearsals of the racing. The 
boy was born and grew to young manhood, when suddenly he was 
seized with the same mania, and nothing could keep him from the 
track, except the gaming dens of the lowest vice which are the 
natural followers of the race track. This young man, bred of reli¬ 
gious parents, is now wearing stripes in the penitentiary, as a result 
of the gambling mania inherited from his mother, and developed 
by her at the critical period of her pregnancy. 


52 


CHILD LIFE 


l jt i 

The child is marked with the nervous character of 
its mother. 

This is the 16th Ralston Principle. The influence that results 
in giving the offspring birth-marks is exerted between the third 
month and the ninth month. Mental character is that which effects 
the direct province of the brain, but nervous character applies to 
the realm of the system that does not depend so much on thought 
as on feeling. A line of conduct, of deliberate vice or error, may 
emanate from the mind, while feelings and emotions may arise, 



Figure 18. The Fidgety Mother. 


and do generally arise, before the brain has time to pass judgment 
upon them. The general disorder of the nervous system is known 
as nervousness, or, to use a common household term, “having the 
fidgets.” The chief question is how far this trouble may be pre¬ 
vented. Is it curable ? The complete membership of the Ralston 
Health Club has well answered that question. What the 'school 
of character is to the mind that volume is to the body and nerves. 
No woman has a right to give way to her feelings, and yet she has 
many a cause for doing so. The greater her danger the more 
should be the care that she must exercise. A keg of gun-powder 
is more protected, watched and guarded than a keg of nails; one 
explodes easily, the other not at all. Women allow themselves to 
become very nervous, by yielding too easily to the moods that 
come over them. In figure 18 is seen the typical face of the very 
susceptible woman. She jumps and starts on the least sound ; the 
dropping of a book so alarms her that she nearly faints, after a 
violent quiver of flesh; any unexpected movement will unstring 





BEFORE BIRTH 


53 


her nerves, and she feels as though she “must fly,” as she ex¬ 
presses herself 

This great nervous susceptibility will grow fast, or will 
succumb to the calm act of the will, but, as it is easier to 11 let go ’’ 
every time, the woman, already suffering from the malady, rarely 
ever tries to check it. It is from such fault, so easy to overcome, 
that the now prevailing disorder known as St. Vitus’ dance, or 
nervous twitching, is derived. This peculiar malady is most dis- 



Figure 19. St. Vitus’ Dance, as seen in the Child of the Fidgety Mother. 

tressing at times, but does not receive its name unless certain 
symptoms are found. It is, nevertheless, found in all grades, from 
the least to the greatest. Every twitching of the muscles owes its 
action to the nerves, and to something wrong in the health of the 
system. Some have the trouble in one part of the body, some in 
another. A jump of the foot or limb, a jerk of the arm, a shake 
of the shoulder, or twitching of the neck, a tortured contraction 
or expansion of the face, and any similar unintended motion may 
come under this head. As a rule, a person so disordered in the 
nerves is unaware of the real extent of the trouble. In figure 19, 
the boy is the child of the nervous mother of figure 18, and his 
peculiar birth-mark is the India rubber broadening of the face, 
coming on very suddenly. The cause is ascribed to the unfortu¬ 
nate giving way of his mother to a spell of hysterics when she found 
out her condition, some five months before his birth. She had 
always allowed herself to yield to the control of every mood and 
feeling, even before this. It was the culmination of years of will¬ 
ing accumulation. 

Temper is a nervous disorder. It is very highly devel¬ 
oped by a woman in the maternal condition; and there are two 
reasons for this. First, she is taxed by circumstances which are 
not bo easily controlled, as at other times. Second, she is often 


64 


CHILD LIFE 



Figure 20. The Ill-natured Mother. 


annoyed by the discovery of her state; and she becomes venom¬ 
ous at the thought of it. The Pomeroy boy murderer of Massa¬ 
chusetts, now a grown man in the prison of that Commonwealth, 
was nervously diseased by the influence of his mother’s temper. 
When she found herself with child, her anger was so great that 
she threw a knife at her husband, against whom she made the 
heinous charge of paternity. The boy, when quite young, would 
tie other children to posts, and amuse himself by throwing a knife 
at them until he had killed several. He was adjudged guilty of 
murder in the first degree; but the Governor commuted the sent¬ 
ence of death to imprisonment for life. His subsequent incarcera¬ 
tion has proved him to be one of the most dangerous of nervous 
criminals. 



Figure 21. Child of the Ill-tempered Mother. 

The savage disposition of some women at such times is 
quite remarkable, in view of the fact that they are not ill-tempered 


BEFORE BIRTH 


55* 


under other circumstances. This has led investigators to conclude 
that they are insane. The real fact is that the nerves lead direct 
from the brain to those at the place of generation; and when the 
latter are strained they effect the whole system, mind and all. It 
is a species of temporary insanity. But the other side of the case- 
is, that it may be controlled by those who are determined to keep 
it under sway. Figure 20 is the face of a woman who is ill-tem¬ 
pered from nature and choice; and figure 21 is the child she has 
brought into the world. Both faces are at their normal, or best 
temper. There .are boys and girls growing up in every place, who* 
are thus marked. 



Figure 22. A Woman of Stubborn Temper. 

Among the variety of ill natures everywhere seen, the 
most disagreeable is that of the wife who hates maternity, and 
stubbornly refuses to endure it. She will listen to no reason, no 
argument, no intimation of the duty she owes the world; but she 
sets herself against all her friends and her family, resolved to be¬ 
come as disagreeable as possible. Worst of all she sets herself 
against the child. With hatred for it she doses her system with 
everything she ever heard of, or can get information about, and 
tries to kill the embryo. A dozen remedies are tried the second 
month; two dozen the third; and violence attempted the fourth ; 
until she finally bemoans her situation and prepares to bear it ill 
will from the moment it is born until she chooses to become recon¬ 
ciled to it. The innocent thing comes into the world, blasted by 
the curses of its mother. She was a fair creature, as may be seen 
by glancing at figure 22; for, behind the ill-temper, are features 
that would be considered pretty if they were nurtured into smiles 


56 


CHILD LIFE 


by a heart full of human love. Her child ought to have been 
beautiful; but, at its very best, it is no more attractive than its 
picture shows in figure 23. 



Figure 23. Smile of a Child Cursed by its Mother* s Temper. 

It is refreshing to know that most wives accept maternity 
willingly, and that these ill-natured cases are in the minority. It 
is, however, too true that many women are everywhere found who 
hate the condition and seek to injure the little innocent offender. 
It is a sin of the first magnitude. It leaves a life-long impression 
on the nervous system of the child, and many a mother has lived 
to regret it. A son of wealthy parents, both of whom were of the 
highest rank in intelligence and refinement, ought to have been a 
noble youth. He carried the mark of a high temper imparted to 
him by his mother previous to his birth, and this curse followed 
him through life, until he gave way to it by committing murder, 
for which he was hung. His mother recalled distinctly the time 
when she flew into a passion on a slight pretext; she saw the boy 
growing up under the effects of the blight; she bade farewell to 
him as he stepped to the death-trap, and to this day she realizes 
the awful accountability devolving upon her in the day when she 
and that boy will meet again. Temper can be held down if one 
chooses to exercise the power of mind necessary to keep it in 
check. This is proved by the thousands of cases of women who 
curb their ill-nature in the presence of visitors, and yet when alone, 
or with their families, let it have full vent. 


[ > 7 ] 


The child is marked with the physical character of 
its mother. 

This is the 17th Ralston Principle. It relates to the habits or 
appearances of coarseness or fineness in the body of the child. The 




BEFORE BIRTH 


57 


father imparts the status, or scale of rank physically ; the mother 
bestows the habits and character that mark the life of the child, 



Figure 24. The Perfect Type of Woman for Motherhood. 

not only for ease in child-bearing, but also to give to her offspring 
the guaranty of a perfect body, should every woman become 
masters of the Ralston system of physical culture, good proportions 
of development, equality of all the muscular powers, and proper 
distribution of the flesh. She should not be too heavily built, 
nor too light. Her form should be well proportioned, and all 
parts balanced; weak and languid muscles stiffen and lose their 
pliability, rendering child-bearing dangerous. Overworked muscles 
become set, and their condition is relieved by a scientific balance 
of action employing non-used muscles. It is true the hard-work¬ 
ing people carried about with them as parts of their anatomy a lot 
of cords, tendons and sinews that are never employed while they 
drudge and toil with others. The greatest blessing for the woman 



Figure 25. The Lazy Woman. 


58 


CHILD LIFE 


who would pass safely through the perils of maternity is the sys¬ 
tem of physical culture referred to, and the full method is included 
in the Ralston course. Such a woman is seen in figure 24. 

Opposed in physical character to the perfect body of 
one trained in Ralston culture, is the inactive or lazy woman. 
She may be made indolent by her condition; and, if so, every 
day spent in lack of proper exercise is adding peril to the critical 
hour, when her fate and that of the child may hang in the bal¬ 
ance. She is, perhaps lazy by habit, acquired from novel reading; 
a kind of time-wasting that saps all the vital energy from the 
muscles and nerves, and keeps the brain over-active with its worst 
stimulant—trashy fiction. Such women become the worst mothers. 



Figure 26. Child of the Lazy Woman, having Birth-mark. 

Their children are more often deformed than are the offspring of 
other parents ; and the marks are generally in the ill-shape of the 
features. A most valuable lesson may be learned by a study of 
the face shown in figure 25, that of a woman who lies abed until 
nearly noon, reading cheap novels. She does very little work; 
dresses herself more for outside appearance than for real comfort 
or completeness of attire; and is satisfied with the least exhibition 
of neatness. Of all the myriad duties that make up the life of a 
true wife she accepts none, if there is a way of avoiding it. The 
study of the face in figure 26 reveals the extent to which the evil 
influence of a badly-managed body may affect the child. The 
nose is not like that of either parent—and a decided variation in 
the shape of this feature is always evidence of physical marking. 
The forehead is flat, resembling the low mental state of a savage. 
The leer of the eye and the grin of the mouth are the usual 
expressions seen in the faces of expectant readers following the 
plots of trashy novels. Such mothers not only increase the 


BEFORE BIRTH 


59 


dangers to themselves at the hour of child-birth, but they destroy 
the best part of the body of the offspring—the face. 



Figure 27. The Untidy Woman. 


While laziness is a serious fault in the physical care of 
the body, it may yet be attended with cleanliness ; and, on the 
other hand, the active person may be very neglectful of the physi¬ 
cal condition of the body. To keep the pores of the skin open by 
frequent bathing is of great importance from the standpoint of 
health ; but it has a special value in the influence it exerts over 
the disposition of the child. There are many boys and girls who 
prefer nastiness to cleanliness ; who shrink from a washing of the 
face or a bathing of the body. It may be safely set down that 
they have inherited this disposition from their mothers. We find 
in figure 27 the face of a woman of refinement and activity. She 
cannot be called indolent, for she attends to her household duties, 
studies some, and writes for the papers ; yet her face is caked with 
the dough of collected dirt, to remove which would require so 
much time that she prefers to powder it over and let it go. Her 
neck is yellow, her ears waxy, and her forehead begrimed with the 
soot of honest toil, that would prove remunerative if placed in a 
vegetable garden and planted with potatoes. We know a very re¬ 
fined and very estimable lady, a teacher of expression, whose un¬ 
bathed body always oppresses the air of the room by its fermented 
perspiration, and requires four times as much ventilation when 
she is exercising as would be necessary if she had left the odor in 
a bath-tub. 

The mother bestows upon her child the same conditions 
that prevail in the physical management of her own body. The 
influence marks the offspring, hut the evidences in such general 
cases are in the features and in the disposition, and not the usual 


60 


CHILD LIFE 



Figure 28. Child of the Untidy Woman. This Boy has Fits when Washed. 

skin marks so often found. Figure 28 is the likeness of the child 
of the untidy woman shown in figure 27. He has the small eyes 
and expressionless face of one related to the pork tribe ; while the 
pig nose and extra large chin denote a low order of physical 
quality. No better advice could be given to any prospective 
mother than to acquire the very best habits of body ; keep it 
active ; keep the activity balanced, so as to distinguish work from 
culture, and keep it clean. The child will reflect the mother in 
all these respects. 

a=] 

The thoughts of the mother impress the child. 

This is the 18th Ralston Principle. By the use of the word 
impress we intend to convey as much and more than is included 
in the idea of defacing the skin. Not all evidence of maternal in¬ 
fluences are shown to the eye on the surface of the body. It is 
true that nearly all children bear some visible marks, but they are 
imaginations in many cases ; and in others are uneven distribu¬ 
tions of pigment or coloring matter. The so-called white person 
is not white. There is, at the base of the skin, a floor of sacks, 
many millions in number, whose duty it is to color the surface of 
the body. The blood and all anatomical construction may be 
alike in the various races of mankind, yet this pigment has a very 
unpleasant way of rising to the surface and discharging a blackish 
fluid for the Negroes, a reddish for the Indians, a yellowish for the 
Mongolians, a brownish for the Malays and a whitish for the Cau¬ 
casians. But this white hue is very far from white. It is light, 
however, and its lightness gives opportunity for any variation to 
appear. Hence arises a popular notion that the child, showing 
uneven coloring, has received a birth-mark. 







BEFORE BIRTH 


61 


Sometimes the skin is congested by injury, and great 
blotches of red, purple, or beef-steak hue may be seen on the face 
or other parts. In nearly all such cases the mother has had a 
violent temper during the months preceding delivery. We doubt 
if there is an instance of this horrible disfigurement in which the 
mother has not given sad exhibitions of her vicious disposition. 
It is not to be wondered at that the child is blighted. Sometimes 
the marks are brown or yellow. Many ladies find in them a clear 
resemblance to some kind of food longed for at the time when it 
was not to be had; and an accidental touch of her hand upon her 
own body would leave a corresponding defacement on the skin of the 
unborn child. Thus, one woman wanted an onion, and touched 
her forehead at the time; her child was born with an onion marked 
on his forehead. All the vegetables, fruits, foods and numerous 
extraordinary things have been reproduced in this way. The 
thoughts of the mother, acting in copartnership with the pigment, 
have done their work. 



Figure 29. The Daily Sewerage Marking the Tinhorn Infant. 

A mother who values the life of her unborn child should 
avoid impressing upon it any strongly presented thought of an 
adverse nature. While it would be too much to expect a continu¬ 
ally clean flow of ideas in any human mind, and while the biain 



























62 


CHILD LIFE 


should adapt itself to all kinds of impressions as a means of inur¬ 
ing it to the experiences of real existence; yet it should shun at 
all times, and especially during the months of approaching mater¬ 
nity, the startling headlines and shocks to sense, which appear in 
all the sensational newspapers of this country, for the sole object 
of selling papers and making money. They are known as criminal 
journals, and their business is called criminal journalism, for the 
following reasons : first, the men who conduct them are criminals ; 
second, they serve up in the most horrible form all the crimes of 
each day, from the least to the greatest, paraded in exaggerations 
that arrest the attention, appal the brain, and sell the papers; 
third, they are the cause of the fearful increase of crime now going 
on in America, and they stimulate the appetite for a felon’s career 
by their pictures of hero-murderers and the ghastly victims felled 
by the knife, the pistol or the deadly poison. 

A mother would do well to never allow a sensational 
newspaper in the house; for children who are growing up are 
easily impressed by the accounts of crime so startlingly enforced 
in pictures and big headlines; and the current records are full of 
the deeds committed by young imitators of the older miscreants. 
Many of the children are innocent of the gravity of the offenses of 
which they are guilty. Thus, a lad of ten who poisoned his sister, 
did not shed a tear when told that she had died in the most terrible 
agony; but seemed to think that his methods were successful, for 
he produced a page from a daily newspaper which described 
minutely how a husband had poisoned his wife, by the use of a 
rat powder. He followed the plan, and was quite content to know 
that he had succeeded as well as the wife-murderer. Estimating 
from statistics collected during a given time, it is safe to say that, 
in the last twelve months, fully one* thousand boys and girls have, 
in this country, been stimulated, by newspaper accounts of this 
kind of crime, to attempt the poisoning of parents or other mem¬ 
bers of the family; and that over four hundred have succeeded in 
causing death. One city produces an average of over one case a 
week. 

The spirit of revenge among servants is excellently 
well fed by the sensational accounts of crime printed in the news¬ 
papers. Servants, as a rule, are inferior in intellect, and therefore 
more ready to seek revenge. They are offended by little provoca¬ 
tion ; but, when intent on murder, they assume their usual air of 


BEFORE BIRTH 


63 


pleasantness, which is in accord with the low cunning of inferior 
intelligence. There were six hundred cases of poisoning in the 
United States, in which servants wreaked vengeance on their 
employers or members of the family; and, in every case without 
a single exception, the servants had access to sensational news¬ 
papers. One female carried an illustrated article in her dress 
pocket; parts of the description being marked. In four instances 
the servants had taught children how to use poison, giving them 
the information read from similar articles. Many of the murderers 
confessed that they were instigated to their crimes by the exciting 
description of similar deeds, set forth in most attractive style in 
newspapers. 

In other methods than by poison, have the boys, though 
rarely the girls, of well managed families, been stimulated to mur¬ 
der father, mother, brother, sister or playmate. Shocking and 
unnatural as it may seem, the annals of crime include all these 
many times repeated. The Youth?s Competition , May, 1897, had 
a timely article on the great increase of crime among the youth of 
our land; and it showed in what way the newspapers were directly 
the cause. Other clean periodicals have taken up the matter, and 
are doing what they can ; but they labor under the misfortune, of 
increasing the circulation of the very papers they condemn. It is 
a serious reflection on human nature that criminal journalism 
thrives on the abuse it receives; for it enjoys the benefits of such 
free advertising. Probably no question more important, no prob¬ 
lem more difficult, faces the parents of our land at this time than 
the manner in which to destroy the evil influence of this hydra¬ 
headed monster,—criminal journalism. 

The most effective way is that which is least likely to be 
adopted, namely, to refuse to patronize merchants who advertise 
in the sensational sheets, and to notify the merchants why you so 
refuse. This involves the establishment of a committee of ladies, 
and a Mothers’ Ralston Club, in every town and city; the com¬ 
mittee to be appointed by the club, and their duty being to desig¬ 
nate the papers that are offensive. The club will, then, call on the 
proprietors of stores whose advertisements appear in such sheets; 
promise their patronage in case the advertisements are discontinued 
for good; and deny it otherwise. As a criminal newspaper lives 
on its advertising contracts, the withdrawal of these would quickly 
• destroy the paper. To refuse to read, to buy, or to have in your 


64 


CHILD LIFE 


possession a copy of such journal, may do some good, but very 
slowly. Many reading-rooms have refused to admit certain New 
York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and other dailies; and 
such associations as the Christian Endeavor, Epworth League and 
Chautauqua, have voted to refuse patronage to certain criminal 
sheets, as well as to merchants who advertise in them; but the 
evil is too great for an indifferent action. It needs a strong leader 
in every school district, in every town, in every city-ward, who 
will not be dismayed by failure or weak support, to rise up like a 
giant and give a lifetime of labor, if need be, to the accomplishment 
of this great end. 

We have discussed the direct effect of criminal jour¬ 
nalism upon the children, and it now remains to speak of the in¬ 
direct influence exercised through the mother previous to the birth 
of her child. In figure 29 the too frequent habit of an all-absorb¬ 
ing interest in, and daily imbibing of, sensational news is presented 
as a study. This woman is reading an account of a murder, and 
is learning how a man cut his wife’s throat, every detail of the 
crime being described and illustrated in the most startling manner. 
She will become a mother in a few months. What will be the con¬ 
dition of her child ? There are women who dote on, live in, and 
swear by the red-hued sensations of the daily press. They are too 
dull to know that nine-tenths of the stuff is pure fiction, created 
out of the brains of the cheapest kinds of writers, reporters for 
illegitimate journals. Children are not only marked, but their char¬ 
acters are horribly stamped by such influences, and they are can¬ 
didates for the ranks of criminals, as soon as they are able to think 
for themselves. If motherly love is to control the process that 
brings humanity into the world, each wife should cultivate 
thoughts that are pure, and avoid the screeching sensations of the 
sewer press. A regard for the best things in the realm of beauty, 
of music, of art and literature, a leaning toward refinement and 
culture, a hope for a higher plane of life, an ambition to bring 
into being a child of perfect body, of clean mind, and gentle 
temperament, should be the controlling influences that possess the 
mother of the unborn offspring. 

Not only does crime increase faster in proportion to the 
growth of population than it ever did before, but mental derange¬ 
ments are multiplying still faster; and insanity is one of the dis¬ 
tressing problems of the immediate future. Tracing the character 


BEFORE BIRTH 


65 


of mental-markings back to the character of the reading indulged 
in by the mother previous to the birth of her child, we find a 
direct connection between the two. In illustration of this, a few 
instances may be cited. A mother read a sensational article, in 
which a certain woman imagined that she had glass legs. The 
account caused her to dream that her unborn child would be so 
afflicted. The infant came into the world deranged; and, at the 
age of fifteen was a confirmed lunatic, suffering under the hallu¬ 
cination that his legs were glass, and were constantly breaking. 
Another woman read an article on flying-machines, concocted out 
of the imagination of a Sunday paper writer, in which the certainty 
of flying was guaranteed to every human being. The claims of 
the fraudulent article were so extravagant and so vividly set forth, 
that she heartily believed them to be true. The strength of the 
impression caused her to think constantly of the one subject, and 
her child, born a few months later, was insane on the subject of 
flying machines. Had the so-called scientific article contained 
sensible descriptive matter, such as would come within the realm 
of actual invention, the impression would have been normal; but 
it abused the name of science by the most startling falsehoods. 
Nearly all Sunday papers contain lies called science; and these 
are devoured by young and old who believe them to be valuable. 
A woman, credited with good judgment in matters of education, 
wrote us that she disliked the Sunday papers, and never patronized 
the merchants who advertised in them, but she “ hated so much 
to give up the scientific articles,” which they contained. She 
actually believed the articles were scientific, and that they were of 
an educational nature, instead of cheap fiction. In another case, 
a paper published an account of a freak who delighted in frighten¬ 
ing people by looking in their windows at dusk. Although the 
whole article was untrue, it yet invented pictures of the persons 
frightened and of the freak himself. Of course the writer of the 
stuff accomplished the object he had in mind of terrifying the 
readers of the paper. A woman who read every word of the 
account, delivered a child a few weeks later. The little fellow had 
the face in the picture of the freak; and, when older, he became 
insane. His derangement took the character of the invented 
demon, who scared people by looking in windows; and he was 
not placed in an asylum until a girl had been thrown into convul¬ 
sion^ from fright at seeing his awful features; as a result of which 


60 


CHILD LIFE 


she died. What caused this fatality? The boy? Who was to 
blame? Was it the mother, the wretch of a newspaper correspon¬ 
dent, or the spirit of hideous greed that makes papers sensational 
in order to sell them and make money? Let every self-respecting 
parent keep the criminal paper out of the house and away from 
the family. There is but one rule to guide you: avoid papers 
having bold headlines, or scare-heads, as they are called in the 
printing office. Take as your models such journals as the Balti¬ 
more Sun , the Washington Star, the New York Tribune , the 
New York Sun , and others that seek to present the news as current 
history rather than daily sewerage. 



Second Grand Division 





Child Life 

AT 

BIRTH 

HPymUl 



A GUARANTEE OF 
ABSOLUTE SAFETY 
TO MOTHER AND CHILD 









CHAPTER IX. 


WHAT SHALL BE THE SEX? 


W E now enter a new field of discussion and investiga¬ 
tion. It is supposed that the good wife has laid a proper 
foundation for a child of normal mind and body, by 
carefully observing the suggestions given in the preceding division 
of this book. We come now, therefore, to the thing of flesh that 
is growing and must be delivered into the world. What it is, 
should be clearly understood before its advent into the society of 
mankind will be properly received. This chapter and the next 
will follow the coming stranger through the various stages of its 
development. 

Commonest among the every-day common things of life, 
is the story of sex. Why the male and female are necessary is one 
of the problems, the solution of which would mean nothing. The 
graver question is, why is reproduction necessary? Life, on its 
pleasant side, is worth living; and the very things that detract 
from the desirability of a prolonged stay on earth, are the causes 
of departure, the steps toward death ; disease, decay and the col¬ 
lection of old age material in the body. As told in the pages of 
that larger work, Immortality ,* all earthly existence is either ex¬ 
perimental or progressive; otherwise reproduction would be an 
idle and endless process. 

Matter is in two classes, animate and inanimate. As 
opposed to matter, or superior to its operations, there is a vital 
force which requires hundreds of pages to explain, and the consid¬ 
eration of which is left to other volumes in this series of w r orks. 
But it is this vital force that lives, multiplies, reproduces, dies and 
revives; in doing all which, it employs animate and inanimate 
material; and acts through the agency of two sexes, male and 
female. The body in which our existence is supposed to dwell, 
contains much that is as inanimate as the matter in the rock that 

* Immortality: a Scientific Proof of Life After Death . By Edmund 
Shaftesbury. Price, ten dollars. A volume of great size, magnificently 
prepared. Address Ralston Club Association, Washington, D. C. 

( 68 ) 




AT BIRTH 


69 


rests upon the surface of the earth; yet this very inanimate ma¬ 
terial is used and swayed by the living action of the vital parts of 
the body; and back of all is a purpose that has perplexed the 
wisest thought since first the flight of time began. The three steps 
in the life that dwells upon this planet, are: to live, reproduce, to 
die ; and thus each race is perpetuated. Reproduction is exactly 
as extensive as death; death is exactly as extensive as life; life is 
exactly as extensive as reproduction; and the circle seems endless; 
for, when the whole complication shall become extinct, the spirit 
that invests it will survive to reappear in other seons of time and 
realms of space. t The whole story is one of intense interest; but 
this is not the book for its consideration. All Ralstonites are pro¬ 
gressing toward the goal of the high degrees, where the volume, en¬ 
titled Immortality , as well as others in the course, are awarded 
them as emoluments. 

Two sexes abound everywhere. The persistency with 
which nature compels each living species to reproduce its kind is 
the most remarkable fact in existence. Why one sex could not 
attend to this duty is not surmised. The apple-tree brings forth 
its fruit; the seed in the fruit are matured ; being planted, they 
germinate into a combined result, which represents father and 
mother, instead of the parent that bore the apple, hence growers 
avoid that method of re-stocking their nurseries. Seedlings, from 
seeds, are mongrels or mixtures, and therefore uncertain. In order 
to obtain an exact reproduction of the stock of the parent that 
bore the fruit, a twig or limb or branch is inserted into the trunk 
of the seedling, not merely to feed on its vitality, but to develop 
apples of the kind that grew upon the tree from which the part was 
taken. This is not strictly reproduction, as we understand the term, 
but it is an extension of the original by further growth. The prin¬ 
ciple dominates all nurseries. The seeds of the rose, the carnation, 
the geraniums, of nearly all highly cultivated flowers and fruits, 
produce uncertainties, so they are not permitted to reproduce; but, 
in their stead, the growth of the parent is cut or divided into 
smaller parts of itself, each to be allowed to develop, and again be 
subdivided. A cutting from a plant, put in the ground, will 
take root, grow, be cut, its parts made to grow as new and separate 
plants ; and so the story goes on, without limit. 

Few growers know that they are making use of the very 
first principles of natural reproduction in this dividing, growth, 


70 


CHILD LIFE 


re-dividing and extension. It is the earliest process of the human 
embryo. If you will draw a small circle, a tiny ring, on a piece 
of paper, you have the starting point of everything that has life, 
and you may easily understand what growth is, both high and 
low. To know what this is would be to know the secret behind 
existence. We do, however, know that the giant oak or the blade 
of grass, the huge elephant or the microscopic insect, must orig¬ 
inate in the cell or little circular, globular unit which you have 
drawn. It is the beginning of everything. Mankind is no excep¬ 
tion. You were once a child ; the child born was once an embryo 
unborn; the embryo was once an egg in the mother; the egg, itself 
a collection of little cells, was once a unit or single cell, and there 
you had your origin. It is strange, but the tree came from a cell 
as tiny and as simple; the flower, the vegetable, the bird, the fish, 
each and all developed from a single cell, and you and they com¬ 
menced life on an equal basis. It is in the way that these cells 
unite and make their structural form that causes one being to 
differ from another; one to be a plant, another a mosquito, another 
a weed, and another a pretty girl. There is no doubt that the 
same material is used as a basis, and differs as the combination of 
cells takes shape and matures the embryo. 

To understand the size of the single cell or unit, which 
serves as the basis of all animate matter, you may imagine this 
globule to be on a piece of glass, but you will not see it. Perhaps 
you think a microscope may disclose it; so you borrow an ordi¬ 
nary instrument from a friend. It does not reveal the cell. You 
now apply to a scientist; he loans you a magnifier that makes a 
hair look like a tree from California, but the cell is invisible. At 
length, securing one of extraordinary power, you discover the 
mass, and find that your little circle, although not an image of the 
globule, conveys as much to you as does the particle itself. It is 
possible to find within the circle a smaller globule, in which there 
is a dot. This dot is called the id; the small circle is called the 
nucleus; and the circle which you first drew is called the cell. 
You may now draw a number of circles ; in each place near the 
inner edge a smaller circle, one-tenth the diameter of the outer 
one; and in each of the smaller ones place a dot between its center 
and circumference. As shown very fully in the one hundredth 
degree book of the Ralston Club, the id represents heredity or the 
impulse handed down from parent to offspring ; the ?iucleus repre- 


AT BIRTH 


71 


sents the nature and vitality of the life in process, free from all in¬ 
fluences of birth or ancestry ; and the cell is the body or mass that 
constitutes the animate matter. Thus it is seen that the id is 
charged with the duty of maintaining the species and the char¬ 
acter of the descent, while the nucleus becomes the individual 
brain force of the little life. It is into the id of the female that 
the germ of the embryo is planted, whether it be a tree, a flower, 
or a human being. 

To secure her ends nature is profuse and prodigal, even to 
a degree of wanton wastefulness. For every seed that might have 
been originated by the impregnating dust of male sex that floats 
to its mate amid the flowers a million are lost, and when the seeds 
are produced they are not all productive in turn. Thousands of 
apple blossoms blow away to the winds for every hundred that 
mature in fruit. In the human egg there are many millions of 
cells, each provided with nucleus and id, but the act of impregna¬ 
tion employs but one of these, while all the others turn in and 
help to make the germ of the embryo feel at home by supplying 
the sustenance of development. This sustenance is the cell-mass 
of their own bodies. If you will now draw a large ring about an 
inch in diameter, und fill it full of cells, made as described, you 
will get an idea of the matter of which the human egg is composed. 
Of the millions of cells in this small compass one only will receive 
the germ of the embryo, and in its compass the newly combined 
interests will set about to build the existence that is to follow. 

While the egg is but a collection of cells, and represents 
female receptivity, the germ of the embryo is the life itself. If 
you wish to know what this is like, you may draw a line with a 
head to it, somewhat oval shaped, or you will see by reference to 
figure 30. 



Figure 30. The Germ of the Embryo Entering the Egg. 

Figure 30, the tiny germs approaching the egg, one of the 
former being destined to enter the latter, while all the others are 
left to perish. Five of these germs are shown in the illustration, 




72 


CHILD LIFE 


but they are a few only of the myriads that are chasing after it. 
The impregnation is represented as taking place in the fallopian 
tube, whither the germ has traveled; but, ere long, they will drop 
down into the uterus where the united couple will set up house¬ 
keeping for a period of thirty-nine weeks. The ring toward which 
the five male germs are moving is the egg of the female, and it is 
in the fallopian tube that the union often takes place. 

It is supposed by some that the male germ of the embryo 
is the child itself, and that entering the female egg it nestles there 
prepared to grow. This cannot be true. The male germ is too 
large to enter of itself into the most developed of the egg-cells ; the 
fact being that it carries an id from one of the many cells of its 
own structure, and seeks to deposit this id in one of the cells of the 
female egg. Thus the germ of the embryo is merely a carrier. 
There are many reasons to believe that the male id, or spot within 
the nucleus of the germ cell, unites with or bends into the female 
id, or spot within the nucleus of the egg-cell. This being true, 
and it also being true that an id is an heredity bearing the influ¬ 
ence of ancestry, the two sides of the new life beeome a unit of gov¬ 
erning energy over the mass of their blended cell structure. As 
the nucleus is the vital part of the cell, being in some instances 
the major part of the cell itself, and as the id is the governing part 
of the nucleus, it would follow that the id is in control of the whole 
life of which it is but a dot, and this is true. 

The origin of sex has been a problem for the solution of 
which many theories have been made and many experiments tried. 
In the early books we find the doctors of a century ago declaring 
that the female ovaries were sexed, the right being male or female, 
and the left the opposite. This was believed until, when one of 
the ovaries was removed, the mother gave birth to male and female 
offspring from the remaining ovary. The experience was repeated 
in a number of other cases, and the theory was abandoned. Then 
came the belief that time controlled the sex, that is, if sickness 
had ceased immediately before copulation, the sex would be male 
or female, some declaring that early copulation meant female off¬ 
spring. But to-day there are breeders of cattle who believe that 
heifers, or females, are produced by late copulation, or waiting 
until the second or third day of heat. As female offspring are 
more desirable than males, in the o cattle-raising business, where 
dairy animals are sought, it i^s of some importance to breed to such 


AT BIRTH 


73 


end. Some success has been attained in this direction, but a care¬ 
ful examination of the facts involved does not establish the truth 
of the theory, although the results indicate that there is a principle 
at work in the process. Let us see if we can get at it. Before 
doing so, it is well to glance at the explanations offered in other 
directions. Thus far we have two only: first, the exploded 
claim that the right and left ovaries were male and female ; second, 
the partly true theory that early copulation produces male off¬ 
spring, and late produces female. The latter has been used the 
other way; but, as results have never been uniform, it has had no 
certainty. 

The third of the sex theories is that of copulation pre¬ 
ceding sickness resulting in females, and after in males. In these 
there may be the same principle at work. The fourth is some¬ 
what novel, it is to the effect that copulation should occur on the 
second contact, in order to produce females, and greater success 
has followed this theory than any of the others. There are some 
cattle-raisers who follow the idea with results that seem to satisfy 
them of its correctness. Other suggestions have been offered in 
explanation of the origin of sex. It is our opinion that this 
whole question, whether the offspring will be male or female, is 
determined by the ids , the vitalities that carry heredity, and would 
naturally he supposed to carry sex, also. The id of the male 
parent is male ; of the mother, female. One absorbs the other. 
If the male absorbs the female, the offspring must be male; and 
the opposite would be true if the female predominated. Science 
will eventually be unanimously agreed upon this point. The re¬ 
maining question is, why does the id of one absorb the id of the 
other? In the first place, there must be union of the two, or life 
cannot begin. Disunion would not produce twins, but would 
mean death to the cells. Their life is dependent upon the unity 
of their union. Therefore, one must absorb the other. Now the 
question is, which one? And the answer must be, that one which 
has the most vitality. Here is the principle and the solution of 
the question. But what kind of vitality ? The kind that invites 
the parents to each other. 

Of all the experiments made along the lines of this subject, 
those that adhere closest to this last presented theory, are the most 
uniformly satisfactory; and yet this explanation might concur in 
some of the other theories. Late copulation, or that preceding 


74 


CHILD LIFE 


sickness, or copulation at second contact, would easily agree in 
part with the vitality-theory. Breeders of high priced thorough¬ 
bred animals are beginning to make use of it; while others have 
for years kept it a secret, to gain advantage over others. To prove 
it, let a male parent, after copulation in one case, attend others as 
soon after as possible; and, with the exception of the first, the 
offspring would be females without exception; unless some of the 
maternal mates were lacking in vigor. By exercising great care, 
breeding may be conducted on a plan of mathematical exactness; 
the only doubt being as to the result of the first copulation. 

With human parents the result is somewhat in doubt on 
the first copulation after sickness, but on those that follow imme¬ 
diately, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred the offspring would 
he girls. In other words, a girl-child may, by the exercise of 
proper care, be brought into being at will; while as to the produc¬ 
tion of a boy, the combination necessary, is first copulation after a 
period of rest, say for a week, and a vigorous vitality, exceeding 
that of the wife. The result will be a boy. In the great majority 
of cases, the use of rules is superfluous, as the offsprings are 
launched upon their career generally by accident; and almost 
always without intention. In such cases the sex must be the 
result of the same principle, left however to work out its own ends. 

The production of twins has been a much mooted ques¬ 
tion ; and a variety of theories may be found in medical books. 
The matter is a simple one. As there are double yolk eggs, so 
there may be double eggs in the development of a single month; 
and, as the male germs are countless, they could impregnate thou¬ 
sands of eggs. It is rare that two should descend the fallopian 
passage at one time, yet they have been known to do so. In still 
rarer cases, three, and perhaps more, might come together; and 
triplets, or even four embryos, might be nourished and brought 
into the world. It is all a question of the action of the female 
functions; a mere counting of the number of eggs that descend 
from the ovaries. Some women are so constituted that they go 
two months at a time; and both eggs descend; the result being 
that they give birth to twins, and never to a single child. 

When will the process begin, or at what time of the 
maternal month will it be possible ? The period is quite well set¬ 
tled at the present day, as eleven days after the cessation of sick¬ 
ness and two days before. Thus, if a woman is sick on the tenth 


AT BIRTH 


75 


day and is well on the fifteenth, the fruitful days would be the 
eighth and ninth, as well as the sixteenth to twenty-sixth. A boy 
would, in nine cases out of ten, be generated when copulation 
takes place on the sixteenth and seventeenth days, and a girl on 
the other days ; hut the principle previously stated, merely coin¬ 
cides with the conditions of the days named. As a general rule, 
the egg passes out in three to seven days, after which it would be 
impossible to generate offspring until two days before the next 
period. 

The egg is the receptacle for the male germ of the embryo. 



Figure 31. The Ovary, or Egg-hatching Department. 

In figure 31, the ovary, or place where the eggs are devel¬ 
oped each month, may be seen. A is the fallopian tube ; B is the 
ligament; C the ovary. Once about every twenty-eight days the 
egg, which has been growing for some time, is fully developed and 
is discharged. The wound made by the process heals up after 
awhile, and another place is subject to the same action; until, 
about the age of forty-five, the contents are exhausted: An occa¬ 
sional egg lingers until an extreme old age, when surprises may 
come in the form of babies delivered by mothers in the seventies: 
The egg is like that of a hen’s, but without shell. It has its yoke 
and its white surrounding it. The size is so small that fifty of 
these eggs lying side by side, and touching, would occupy but a 
quarter of an inch, or twenty-five would extend for only an eighth 
of an inch. To understand the exact size, ask a jeweler to cut a 
piece of metal for you to the size of one-two-hundredths of an inch 
in diameter, which he can do by the aid of his eye-glass; then 
place this on a piece of cloth, and study its general dimensions. 

What is this for ? To enable the wife to know when the 
egg has passed out. This knowledge is the prevention of preg¬ 
nancy, and has in it the element of absolute certainty. The egg 
has the appearance of a yellowish-red color, and is clearly visible 
to tjie eye, but must be once recognized in order to be detected. 


70 


CHILD LIFE 


In the large cities the physicians are educating women to this 
knowledge, and it proves a blessing to mothers already over¬ 
burdened with the cares of maternity. One peculiarity is the fact 
that the egg passes away at a fixed time in the case of each woman; 
so that, when to look for it, is readily learned. In a majority of 
women it is the third day or the fourth, but a large minority retain 
it until the fifth, some until the sixth, or later, even to the twelfth 
or fourteenth day, though the eleventh is the outside limit, even 
in nearly all extreme instances. When observation has discovered 
the egg for two or three months in succession, the day when to 
look for it will be likewise ascertained for the future. After it is 
seen, there is no fear of pregnancy until within two days of the 
next period. 



In figure 32 is seen the whole apparatus for the generation of 
the eggs that descend from the ovary to the uterus. A is the latter 
organ, a part only being shown. B is the fallopian tube, through 
which the ovary must pass, one each month. C is the extremity. 
D is a flesh attachment. E is the ovary itself. F is the broad 
ligament, and G the corded ligament, designed merely to hold the 
parts in place. The length of the fallopian tube, B, is only four- 
and-a-half inches; arid there is one on each side; both being of 
equal length. They alternate in their work. When one is de¬ 
stroyed, as happens by disease, the period is every other month. 
When the two are destroyed, or removed, the woman is barren. 
Some have endured the process in order to avoid child-bearing. 
The ovaries are seats of great tumors at times, requiring a severe 
surgical operation. These afflictions are due to impure blood, and 
the irregularity of the functions. They are best avoided by the 
regime, diet and massage presented in the Ralston books. 



AT BIRTH 


77 


The origin of the child has been thoroughly discussed in 
this chapter; and the very latest science has been employed in 
answering the questions that naturally arise in every mind. The 
chapter should he read and re-read three times at least, in order to 
prepare the way for the next, or the consideration of the better 
understood history of the embryo from its inception to the birth 
of the living being, that has been thus mysteriously created. We 
do not believe that the egg of the mother carries the germ; but 
merely contains vitalized cells. We do not believe that the germ 
of the male is the child, but merely a bearer of an id whose duty 
is to unite with the female id , and from their union produce the 
first cell in the egg. This grows and divides, making two; each 
grows and divides, making four; and so on, as we shall see. The 
parents are creators. The mother actually creates the cells in the 
egg. The father actually originates the ids and their carriers. The 
effect of the union will be shown in the next chapter. 







CHAPTER X. 


DEVELOPMENT BEFORE BIRTH. 


S TIMULATED by its impulse to grow, which is said to be 
the most potent force in life, the germ that bears the im¬ 
press of a new being goes on steadily to its climax. It 
takes the best for itself, and is impoverished only when it can find 
nothing of a high quality to feed upon. The time is accurate to a 
day; but, as the date of beginning is not known, the termination 
cannot be fixed in any instance except the rarest. Nature is 
remarkably regular when her processes are not tampered with. 
Attempted records in the case of human beings, are nearly always 
guess-work, for the reason above stated. The usual time, estimated 
at nine months, is nearer accuracy if placed at thirty-nine weeks 
from the last day of the last regular sickness. Yet there are con¬ 
siderations that may cause variation, which the most expert phy¬ 
sician is not able to detect. 

The origin of the child is the subject of the preceding 
chapter. We now suppose it to have become established and on 
its way toward full fruition. The mother is ignorant of the pro¬ 
cess at work, and is incapable of arriving at the knowledge even 
of its presence. Her very first intimation is derived from the 
omission of the regular sickness. This produces a strong impres¬ 
sion on her mind, if she has been regular previously; and it 
becomes the principal thought of the days and weeks that follow ; 
but if her courses have been delayed, she concludes it is nothing 
unusual to pass the date, and the matter receives no attention for 
awhile. 

What can she do ? Ninety-eight per cent of all married 
women dislike the thought of motherhood. If it is to be their first 
offspring, they fear the danger; if it is their second, they recall 
the pain, annoyance, inconvenience of the first; if it is their third, 
they wonder where this thing is going to stop ; if it is their fourth, 
they say, it has gone far enough; and they are right. No woman 
should be compelled to bring more than four children into the 
world; and all who can, ought to be willing to do this much for 

( 78 ) 




AT BIRTH 


79 


the reproduction of the human race; always providing that they 
are fit to become parents of worthy children. Ralstonism is 
opposed to the present custom of crowding the ranks of criminals, 
drunkards, ignorance and a low order of beings, with a multitu¬ 
dinous flood of offsprings, while those who are worthy to become 
parents decline to sustain their share in the peopling of the world. 
It is quite well known that persons who are too poor to live like 
human beings, are able to keep a dog and raise thirteen children, 
more or less; while the better classes find it inconvenient to become 
parents. They use their knowledge to prevent the increase of their 
own ranks. 

The first condition of the embryo is one of mere multipli¬ 
cation, as may be seen by a glance at figure 33, which shows 



Figure 33. The Beginning of Growth. 

the beginning of growth. The egg, a mere combination of cells, 
has received the germ of the embryo from the male parent; the id , 
or nucleus spot of each has united ; and a union-cell has been the 
result. This is a much larger globule than the other ; as will 
appear on a microscopic examination. Let the male germ be 
absent, and this new growth will not appear. It is the same with 
the ordinary egg of the hen; some are barren; others impregnated; 
and the difference may be easily detected when fresh, before the 
new cell-structure is begun; or, in a quite different way, when 
development of the embryo is in progress. 

From this single new cell begins the story of the new 
being; and it is well to understand that neither the father nor the 
mother is the originator of the child. It is purely a union of the 
two, starting with no advantage on either side. The mother de¬ 
velops an egg, containing a million or more of cells, any one of 
which may receive the male germ; the father develops a vast 
quantity of germs, each provided with a carrier having power to 
swim to its mate, but the germ carried is a cell, with its nucleus 
and id. Both parents are creators; though the mother may be 
properly called the developer of the egg-cell; while the father 


80 


CHILD LIFE 


actually creates, or brings into existence, the germ of the embryo. 
They had an origin at some time and place, and their creation, 
even if it was the result of evolution, must have been traceable 
back to a miracle at some stage of their career; so that the exhibi¬ 
tion of the power to create, by process or by instantaneous act, 
stares us in the face at every turn ; and it is impossible to get 
away from it. 

In studying the egg, one cannot avoid the most amazing 
admiration for the intelligence that soon manifests itself in the 
distribution of the multiplying cells. Let us understand this, if 
we can. Take a piece of paper, and make two little circles, in 
each of which a smaller circle is made, between the center and 
circumference, so as to be at one side ; and in each of these inner 
rings a dot is to be placed at one side. One is the male, the other 
the female cell; they have an affinity for each other; they rush 
together and blend ; the two ids cease to be separate male and 
female, but are now one id. The more vital having absorbed the 
less vigorous, and thus at the start decided the sex of the offspring. 
Draw this new cell, larger than its predecessors. Now, on another 
sheet of paper, start life with the new or combined globule, swim¬ 
ming in a mass of protoplasm, which is to sustain its existence. 
It is one, but grows; and breaks in two. This is certainly sur¬ 
prising, and disappointing; but it is the fact that confronts us. 
It breaks in two. If it did not, the child of maturest man would 
be a jellyfish. But you have two germs now, and what is to be 
done with them? Each one grows, then divides in two, and you 
have four. 

Where is now the child germ? It is in all four of the 
new cells. They are not the old cells of the egg; as the latter have 
been resolved to a mass to serve as food for the new forms. The one 
id, blended from the male and female parent ids, reproduced itself 
in the two; then in the four. Now each of the four grows and divides 
itself, making eight. The power to do this growing and dividing 
is located in the nucleus; but the id of the nucleus determines 
what shall be the character and kind of life developed. We will 
soon see where the miracles of creation manifest themselves. There 
are two. The first is in the secret located in that id; for it holds the 
whole story of life; and furnishes the basis of many chapters in 
the high degree books of Ralstonism, Higher Magnetism and All 
Existence. The second is what is now about to happen, as we shall 


AT BIRTH 


81 


see. When the four new cells have divided themselves and become 
eight, when the eight are sixteen, when the sixteen are thirty-two, 
and so on, until in a very brief time there are countless millions, 
all contained in the egg, now growing in the uterus of the mother, 
where it hangs clinging to the side or inner wall of that organ, then 
these countless cells begin to arrange themselves in a certain order. 



Figure 34. First Evidence of the Embryo, which Appears in About Twelve Days. 

The mass takes shape in about twelve or fourteen days. 
Up to that time it is merely the yolk of an egg, reforming itself. 
Very suddenly, as we think, the resolution of the numerous cells 
is formed to resolve themselves into a definite shape. By com¬ 
paring the above figure 34 with the preceding illustration, it will he 
seen that the latter is a general collection of cells, while the figure 
now before us is the same collection assuming the earliest outlines 
of the child form. This first evidence is quite small, as compared 
with the size of a child ; but it is large for the egg, being about the 
size of a pea, which proves to be a sack to hold the future infant. 
The duties performed by this sack are great, clear down to the act 
of birth, when it is of enormous size. It breaking or bursting, 
then, releases the child; and its complete extraction afterward is 
of the greatest importance; and it is called the after-birth. It is 
the first to form, probably being in existence shortly before the 
embryo appears ; and as a sack or covering, it serves to hold in or 
protect the foetus, or child-form. Let this sack he broken, ever so 
little, and the fluid it contains, even at so early a period as twelve 
days, will escape and the life within will perish. It is this cover¬ 
ing which, later on, criminal doctors seek to pierce in order to de¬ 
stroy the coming child. 

The fluid within is quite thick, coming as it does from the 
egg-yolk. In its midst a certain opaque spot is present, hardly 
seen, however, in its surrounding fluid; and this is called the em¬ 
bryo. We have previously stated that the male messenger bears 
the germ of the embryo ; now, for the first time, the embryo itself 
appears, as a dark mass, very small and having no shape. Nature 
spends^ her first two weeks in preparing the sack in which, for 


CHILD LIFE 


32 

thirty-seven weeks longer, the child is to live in a sort of floating 
existence. All is ready now. There are but two laws at work: 
growth and distribution. A problem steps in at this juncture. 
What is there in the nature of the cells which, as they multiply, 
causes them to follow out the laws of development? It cannot be 
the influence of the mother; for hens’ eggs may hatch in incu¬ 
bators ; and the principle is the same in human eggs, except the 
latter have no shell. There is one vast difference, however; the 
human embryo must be nourished every minute and hour from 
the blood, the nerves, the brain of the mother; and her influences 
are most potent in this period of pre-natal life. 

Shape is quickly taken now, and the embryo is, in a 
week or nine days more, clearly outlined as the form of the child. 



The child when twenty-one days old resembles a large ant, one-, 
.third of an inch long. 

A is the head. 

B is the eye. 

C is the cartilage, which is to be the spinal column. 

ID is an attached vesicle. 

The opaque dot of the twelve days period is now a black ant, 
*as it seems at a glance, a little more than a week later. This speed 
may be easily accounted for by a study of the rapid changes in in¬ 
sect life; or, if you will multiply one cell by two, then two by 
two, then four by two, then eight by two, and so on, doubling but 
twenty times, and you will have over a million of cells produced 
from one. As it requires but twenty steps to make this progress, 
as these twenty steps may occur in a few minutes, and as from 
■each of these million, a million more may be produced in another 
brief space of time, we can readily account for the decided changes 
That appears in nine days. Some kinds of life, even smaller than 
this embryo, mature from a cell to a full-fledged existence, in less 
Time. 


AT BIRTH 


83 


The mother is without knowledge of what is going on. 
There is no way she could tell. It is too early for the symptoms 
of morning-sickness, or the cessation of the regular sickness, and 
a total lack of consciousness prevails, as far as this matter is con¬ 
cerned. The end of the period of twenty-one days is supposed to 
concur with the end of the primary month ; thus, if sickness begins 
on the first day of a month, ends on the sixth, and copulation oc¬ 
curs on the eighth, the twenty-one days from the latter time would 
bring the woman to the period when she would naturally expect 
her next sickness to begin ; but it does not. She little dreams 
that, within her own body, is another being, already twenty-one 
■days old, a third of an inch long, shaped something like a big ant, 
having head, eyes, spine-cartilage, and a vesicle, and thriving on 
her own blood as heartily as any specimen of its size can do. She 
sews, works, reads, goes about her duties, quite oblivious to the 
presence of the little stranger. A day passes over her time and 
she does not know it; another, unnoticed; a week, and perhaps 
she wonders ; then a whole month, and she begins to worry. Medi¬ 
cines are taken to assist her to her regular course, if possibly the 
delay is due to colds, damp feet, exposure or other causes of tardi¬ 
ness, and special drugs, designed to expel the stopped fluids, are 
poured upon the head of the quiet stranger, in the lap of nature. 
These hurt it, and will, in some way, mar its future. It lives and 
grows, and when its second month expires, it is a human foetus. 



Figure 36. The Child, Two Months Old. 

We call it child, although it is termed the germ of the 
embryo when in its very earliest stage, then it is the embryo when 
it is growing into a separate existence apart from the egg on which 
it feeds, later it is called a foetus , when the child-shape is apparent; 
and, finally, out in the world it is a human individual. We call it a 
child before and after birth. In figure 36 we see it at the age of 
sixty days or two months. The hands and feet are now distinctly 


84 


CHILD LIFE 


formed ; the eyes are enlarged, and their presence is indicated 
under the skin, although there are no eyelids or openings; the 
ears have not yet put forth their external parts; the nose, however, 
is somewhat prominent; the line of the mouth is clearly seen ; 
the heart is taking its shape as the organ that must one day drive 
the machinery of the whole body ; the liver is very large compared 
with the other parts, and, most important of all, the soft pulp of 
the brain is collecting in the extra-large head. All these are thus 
far advanced in the brief space of two months. 

When the mother reaches this period she is almost sure 
what is the cause of the suppression of her course. Still she has 
some doubt, and goes on doing injury to the foetus by various 
methods. She should remember that every drug that reaches the 
place with any effectiveness whatever, although not sufficient to 
establish the end she seeks, is sure to mar the child and render the 
end painful. The agony of the last hours of the nine months is 
often chargeable to efforts made in the first twelve weeks of the 
course. Even if the little life she seeks to extinguish is not worth 
a thought to her, the abnormal conditions she invites upon herself 
are serious enough in some cases to impress on others the danger 
of following her example. 

How may she know her condition at two months ? There 
is no way. The doctor may advise an examination, but it will be 
a pretence at best. The morning-sickness may not have come on 
as yet, or if it has it stands one chance in three to be due to a bad 
liver. In fact, where the health is first class, with a clean liver, 
and no bile-odor in the breath, the mother never has morning-sick¬ 
ness. Of the Ralstonite women in the land, more than one-fourth 
pay ample attention to the health to escape the penalty of a sick 
stomach, and do escape it. Of this we have certain proof in 
abundance. It relieves the already burdened woman of a great 
annoyance. If one who has been uniformly regular for years 
should omit a date, the evidence is considered conclusive in favor 
of pregnancy, and that at once; unless, of course, some unusual 
circumstance has intervened, as a cold or shock. It is of the very 
greatest advantage to know the condition at the first or second 
month, for the mind and health may be put in preparation to 
make the event as successful as possible. Do not forget that there 
is danger in drugs ; danger to the heart and life of the mother, as 
well as a sure guarantee of suffering at the end. We say this be- 


AT BIRTH 


85 


cause there are so many mothers who dose themselves for a cold 
under a mistaken idea that they are not pregnant. 



Figure 37. The Child-foetus at Three Months. 


A large leap forward in the growth of the child is taken 
at three months. There are many significant facts connected with 
its development, both inwardly and outwardly. 

It is formed more nearly like a complete child. 

The eyelids are clearly seen and are closely shut. 

The heart can he seen from the outside, and its beating can 
be felt. 

The feet have developed their toes and the hands their fin¬ 
gers, so that they are well defined. 

The generative organs are formed and the sex, which was 
ascertainable before, is now quite prominent. 

This little life is two inches long and weighs over two ounces. 
About seven of them would make a pound. 

No mother need be in doubt at this period. If her health 
is not of the best, she will have had morning-sickness for some 
time. To correct this, either become a Ralstonite and live up to 
its very simple rules of diet, or else pay special attention to the 
course prescribed in one of the chapters of this volume, Safety of 
the Mother , relating to the preparation for the event. As soon as 
there is reason to believe that she is pregnant, it is her duty to 
herself and child to take steps to protect the health and lives of 
both, and every day counts something to this end. Lack of exer¬ 
cise, bad food, morbid thoughts and a narrow way of existence are 
sure to invite penalties more or less severe, as the time progresses. 

A majority of the women who find themselves in this 


86 


CHILD LIFE 


way are inclined to hope that it is not so; and, yielding to sug¬ 
gestions from their own minds or others, they half wish that the 
event will be thwarted by some accident or design. A thought of 
this kind is unwomanly; it is treason to the laws of creation ; it 
is a sin. Under the thin plea that child-bearing may endanger the 
life of the mother, many a physician has destroyed the unborn 
infant in the course of his honorable profession, and never a mo¬ 
ment’ s loss of sleep ensued from the sensitiveness of his conscience. 
It may be safely set down as a fact, serious enough to command 
attention, that when the heart of the unborn child begins to beat 
it is so far a separate human being that to destroy it is close to 
committing murder. Just think of it! A child with eyes, ears, 
nose, mouth, feet, hands, all clearly defined and formed, and the 
little heart beating, to be killed because the mother cannot find it 
convenient to bring it into the world ! Who will decide to take the 
life of this human being ? Who will administer the poison or strike 
the blow ? Every woman, however sickly, can make child-bearing 
safe by a proper care of herself, and thorough attention to a suit¬ 
able regime. Sickness is never excusable when it is in the power 
of the invalid to get well. 



Figure 38. The Child-foetus at Four Months. 

It is now eight inches long, or two-thirds of a foot. 

It weighs half a pound, or one ounce for every inch on an 
average. 


AT BIRTH 


8 T 


The liver, which has been excessively large for the proportion,, 
now assumes a relatively smaller size. 

The head stops growing faster than the rest of the body, and 
is said by some to get smaller. 

The muscles are formed, and their powers of contraction and' 
relaxation lead to a certain activity of the arms and legs, especially 
the latter, whereby the idea prevails that the child quickens. This 
is not so in fact. Each part of the body has had to take its turn 
in the process of growth. At three months the blood began to 
circulate, because the heart was ready to beat; and if there was- 
any real quickening it occurred at that time, for the heart’s action 
is muscular, and the heart itself is a muscle. 

At four months, as shown in figure 38, the embryo is perfect,, 
for which reason it has been called a foetus at that time, and an 
embryo previous to the period of perfection ; though many call it 
a foetus at two and others at three months. For the reason that 
all the parts of the child are not perfect until it reaches the age- 
of four months, and for the further reason that the motion of the- 
legs and arms is not felt until then, the time when the muscular 
system is completed, various medical and legal authorities de¬ 
clare that the destruction of its life becomes a more serious 
offense under these circumstances, and less serious previous to 
this so-called period of quickening. We hold that the killing 
of the unborn child, at any time from conception to maturity, is 
a sin, the gravity of which should deter every person from com¬ 
mitting. 

Unmarried females sometimes find themselves in this pre¬ 
dicament. Many are of criminal instinct; and moral influences 
are deflected from their natures as easily as solid shot glances from 
the armor plate it strikes obliquely. But there is a class of girls, 
some young and some mature, who are compelled to meet the 
alternative of open disgrace or private child-murder. Shall a 
pretty miss, in her teens, with friends and social influence 
about her, become the mother of a child born out of wedlock? or 
shall she employ her family physician to destroy it; and then 
resume her place in society; smile ; be courted ; win the love of a, 
noble, but unsuspecting, youth; blush coyly at his first tender 
expressions of love and confidence; build with him dreams of 
home and its happy environments, like a picture exhaled out of 
aradise of fancy, too pure in outline to belong to earth? 


the p 


88 


CHILD LIEE 


This is the story that is repeated every day in the year. This is 
what the innocent men are getting. Not that the male sex is 
purer than its opposite; for it is not. But the question is, Shall 
the pretty miss referred to go on to motherhood and bear a child 
without a last name? No weight of argument can convince the 
girl or her parents that the latter course is the right one; for the 
disgrace is too severe. It is true that the girl should realize the 
enormity of her offense in falling into the situation; but, once 
there, her duty to nature and her accountability to God require 
that she let the offspring come into the world. What, bring a 
fatherless child into being, when it may be murdered so easily, 
and no one know it, except ourselves and our family physician? 
Why she could never look her baby in the face without turning 
purple with mortification ! Yes she could. Once the love of that 
little, helpless, innocent child is wrapped about its mother’s heart, 
she will dwell in a world all her own; and her life will teem with 
happiness in proportion as she does her duty by the offspring she 
has borne. But what about that illegitimate father? God will 
take care of him. In darkness or light, waking or asleep, living 
or dead, the father of the human being that must grow up under 
the stigma of shame will not escape the eye of God, nor evade the 
black-winged vengeance of outraged justice. Over his head at 
night a pair of demon eyes will pierce the cover of his sleep to 
haunt his mind with hideous dreams, and fever spells of fear. At 
his back by day a silent monster will, in stealthy steps, dog his 
every movement, and, with uplifted arm, aim a bloody dagger at 
his throat; and over his grave, when his wretched life is done, 
the pall of dishonor will stand in mute testimony of the miserable 
being rotting among the worms beneath. The man who dares to 
blight the life of an innocent child, by the life-long disgrace of 
illegitimacy, is worse than the offender whom Christ denounced. 
The rule for the mother is, first and last, without hesitation or 
even thought to the contrary, to bear the child; let it come into 
the world. This rule can have no exceptions. The rule for the 
father is to make the child legitimate. This can always be done, 
despite the strongest obstacles. These problems are discussed at 
this place; for it is at about this time that these serious questions 
arise, and the alternative must be met. Of the two courses open 
to choice, there is but one that is wholly right, while the other is 
wholly wrong. 


AT BIRTH 


89 



Figure 39. Child-foetus, Five Months Old. 


Length, about ten inches. 

Weight, about one pound. 

As the child-foetus was perfect at the fourth month, it is not 
expected that there will be any change, except that of growth. 
The muscles are quite prominent; and the little bit of humanity 
loves to kick against the side of its compartment. These kicks 
are so vigorous at times, that the motion is perceptible to the eye ; 
in some instances objects have been sent from the mother’s lap to 
the floor. 

There are recorded cases of infants being born at five 
months; and claims are made that they lived and grew up. Taking 
pattern after the lessons taught by hen-culture, some enterprising 
inventors have provided an incubator for developing a child-foetus, 
even less than five months old. Experience teaches that seven 
months is practically the limit at which an infant may come into 
the world with a reasonable expectation of surviving. Some 
mothers, from previous mishap, are not able to carry the burden 
longer than four or five months; and regularly lose, at this period, 
every child they have. It is said that two cases following each 
other at the same month will establish a habit of regular loss. 

Accidents easily destroy the hope of maturing the foetus; 
and every effort should be made to avoid them. One mother, by 
the severe straining of an ocean sickness, lost the child at five 
months; another slipped upon an icy sidewalk with the same 
resqlt; another strained the internal apparatus by lifting a heavy 




90 


CHILD LIFE 


package; another slipped on a stair; another was thrown from a 
carriage; and so on, through a long category of mishaps, resulting 
in a violent wrenching of the muscular system which holds the 
growing foetus in place. 

The mind also is of strong influence over the life of the 
child ; and particularly so at this time. The mother is easily 
tempted to give way to fits of despondency, or to misgivings as to 
the culmination of the matters now in progress. She is quite easily 
irritated, and her temper may mark the child in some way. There 
are women who are ordinarily of gentle disposition and loving ways; 
but, when in this condition, are apparently unable to control them¬ 
selves, flying readily into fits of passion without adequate cause. 
Of course it never happens that things go smoothly, even under 
the nicest regulation; and constant guard is necessary over what 
is done, said and even thought. In the condition referred to, it is 
true that the nerves are easily unstrung, for a burden of great 
taxing power is being carried, and the drag is severe on muscle, 
nerves and patience. Yet, admitting all these things to be true, 
it is also a fact that woman is constituted to bear the unusual strain, 
if she is in sympathy with the duty devolving upon her. Violent 
temper at such a time means a low grade of insanity; and possible 
mental trouble in the child also; ior the latter is strongly affected 
by the mother’s conduct. 



Figure 40. A Child-foetus, Seven Months Old. 
Length, fourteen inches. 

Weight, three pounds. 



AT BIRTH 


91 


The body was complete at an earlier stage, as will be seen by 
reference to previous illustrations. Since then it has been growing, 
adding to its weight, developing its muscles, and preparing to sus¬ 
tain its life out in the world. 

At seven months its finger-nails are well formed. 

At this age hair may be distinctly seen on its head. 

All its bones are completely formed; and, though of cartilage, 
they have strength and resisting power. 

A child born at the age of seven months from the 
germ of the embryo, can breathe, cry, and suck. It is thus pre¬ 
pared for life; but nature, intending to give it greater care, pro¬ 
longs the time, and allows it to live upon the parent; until, 
ripening like a fruited nut, it bursts its shell and forces its way 
out into the great world. To those who regard an unborn child, 
even close to the termination of the nine months, as something 
less than a human being, to destroy which is not a crime, the 
great fact that it is a perfected member of the race months before, 
should serve as a warning. 

A married lady who will read the pages of this book, a 
woman of prepossessing appearance, was born at the age of seven 
months from conception, and weighed but two-and-a-half pounds. 
She is now tall, though not stout, and as fully equipped for exist¬ 
ence as though she had been a nine-months’ child. 

Length, about eighteen inches. 

Weight, six pounds for the minimum, or smallest average. 

Eight pounds is considered the average of heavy babes at birth. 

Some exceed ten, twelve, or even fourteen pounds; but eight 
pounds may be regarded as a heavy child. Few children remain 
overtime; some by reason of unusual growth, others because of a 
lack of vitality which is necessary in order to assist in the ripening 
of the foetus, the bursting of the sack and the expulsion of its 
contents. 

The earliest step in the change from promiscuous cells in 
the egg, to an array of these globules into definite shape, is accom¬ 
panied by the building of a sack which must serve as a protection 
to the embryo and foetus all through its period, and what is best 
known in nature as ripening, occurs when growth no longer means 
anything, and sustained tissue begins to dissolve and break. This 
maturing of life is the object toward which all existence tends. 
There is nothing that does not ripen, and this is an argument for 


92 


CHILD LIFE 


human death as well as human birth. The sack has thickened 
and grown, in about the same proportion as the being within has 
progressed. This covering, while not having life of itself, is a mass 
of vital flesh, serving as the great protector of the precious burden 
it surrounds. If it is injured, the foetus dies. If it is pierced by 
ever so small a needle-point, so that the penetration is through its 
wall, it gives up the fight, and its faithful service can no longer 
guard the object of its presence. In every city and town, there are 



heartless scoundrels, women too, among them, who possess sharp in¬ 
struments, made purposely to cut into the sack, go beyond its walls, 
pierce the body of the human being within, and kill it as an Arab 
would murder a wayfarer, for money. If there is virtue in public 
sentiment, the abhorrence of this practice, and of the devilish 
scamps who pursue it, should become so pronounced and widespread 
that the barbarism of child-slaughter, now known as the social evil 
among the fashionable classes, should be made an impossibility. 


CHAPTER XI. 


IN THE HOUR OF PERIL. 


m 


N ATURE’S process at birth is perfectly safe. 

This is the 19th Ralston Principle. It requires that 
nature be not hampered by her weeds, nor interfered with 
by artificial methods. The bringing into the world of a child is 
woman’s most anxious transaction ; an event that, to her, out¬ 
weighs all other acts and duties in the calendar of life. As the 
thought takes possession of her that she is to become a mother, 
all else fades into insignificance ; the history of the world, its 
great battles, the making of nations, all pale before the one per¬ 
formance by which another human being is to be added to the 
population of mankind. 

There are four considerations always present in her 
thoughts : 

First, will the mother survive? 

Second, will her child live ? 

Third, will her general health be affected ? 

Fourth, will the child be a normal and healthy one ? 

Under the first consideration, the prospective mother 
imagines that her life is to be put in jeopardy, especially if the off¬ 
spring is her first; or, else, she dwells upon the long hours of 
suffering, and the pains that she must undergo. She has been 
told that other women have been from twelve to twenty-four 
hours in severe labor, and that their cries and screams have been 
heard out on the street. She herself has personally known of one 
woman who has died in the very act, and of others who have sur¬ 
vived it but a short time. On the other hand, accounts of great 
ease and shortness of time have led her to hope that she is of the 
latter class. 

In the course of development she asks a thousand ques¬ 
tions bearing upon all the phases of her case, and these seem to 
multiply by force of her imagination. All fears may be placed in 

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AT BIRTH 


95 


two divisions : first, those that are founded on normal condi¬ 
tions ) second, those that are founded on abnormal conditions. 
The former are groundless, of course ; but, as all mental processes 
help or mar the life of the child, it is of advantage to know what 
the outcome will be, and to suppress the fears accordingly. It is not 
good judgment to be fearless and brave, while taking no precau¬ 
tions against danger. One of the most careless of women, reck¬ 
lessly awaited the crisis, and died in it; she was accounted 
courageous; but her total disregard for the simple necessities of 
the case caused her death. As we shall see, in the care of babes 
and children, the mortality that is usually charged to the chastis¬ 
ing love of God is but the ordinary result of stupidity and guilty 
ignorance. 

The special anatomical construction of the body, bones 
and muscles favors some women, and operates to their danger in 
others. By another grouping we find four classes : 

First, those who are built for easy child-bearing in normal 
conditions. 

Second, those who are built for easy child-bearing in abnormal 
conditions. 

Third, those who are built for difficult child-bearing in normal 
condition. 

Fourth, those who are built for difficult child-bearing, but 
find themselves in abnormal conditions. 

The first class has nothing to fear, not even the pains that are 
natural to the transaction, except in minimum degree. We shall 
see in the present chapter what is meant by normal conditions. 
The instances are well authenticated of women in their sleep, 
giving birth to babes, and without knowledge of the act; of others, 
in railway stations, trains, crowded streets, or public places, 
bringing children into the world with hardly an apparent concern 
in the matter; and of still others who have become mothers while 
traveling on foot, taking their offspring with them as they renew 
the journey. It will be said, in answer to these cases, that the 
women were toilers, hard-working and active. If so, then there 
is a law of nature involved in the answer. Activity invites easy 
child-birth, and there are many reasons why it should do so. 

The build of the body, as it is called, has much to do with 
the exit of the child ; but this construction, while assumed to be 
located chiefly in the bones, and their size and shape, is more 


96 


CHILD LIFE 


often due to muscular development, muscular sluggishness, stiff¬ 
ness and contraction. It is a very good law of anatomy that what 
is due to bone construction cannot he easily changed, but what is 
due to muscular construction may be varied almost at will. For 
instance, to take an example from that part of the body which is 
most frequently seen, the face, where the bones are ill-shaped and 
ugly, but little can be done to modify their hideousness, and some 
persons are compelled to go through life with faces like crippled 
potatoes; but where the ugliness is of muscular formation, it is 
always due to bad character and had nature, and is without excuse. 
Such faces may be bettered, and are bettered, by the cultivation of 
a fine disposition. Beauty may be made to grow where now the 
rankest plainness mars the countenance. It is the same principle, 
that of cultivating the muscular formation, which is of extraordi¬ 
nary value to the mother. It is wrapped up in the one word, 
activity. 

Abnormal conditions are those of mind, food and muscles ; 
let these prevail in a body that is built for easy child-birth, and 
some malformation will follow. That is, let the muscles become 
sluggish from lack of activity ; let the food be improper ; let the 
mind indulge in fears, sensations, fright or other distortions of 
thought, and no matter how kind nature has been in the making 
of the body, the offspring will suffer, from the time it first breathes 
•until death closes its lips of protest against such gross injustice, 
even through the years of maturity and age. We thus see that 
nature must not be hampered by the gross character or methods of 
the woman. 

Difficult child-bearing, in normal conditions, is always 
perfectly safe; and as the conditions are controlled by the mother, 
she has herself to blame, after being made aware of the duties de¬ 
volving upon her. By difficult is meant that her body is close- 
built, and that nature is not given the freedom of action necessary 
to carry on her functions properly. This is the third class referred 
to. It embraces the great number of women who are arbiters of 
their own fate ; who, by indifference or by not knowing what to 
do for themselves, allow their condition to become abnormal, and 
so bring on terrible suffering and death. Yet let them maintain 
proper habits, and nature will do her work easily, speedily and well. 

The dangers to life and comfort are all found in the 
fourth class ; those who are built for difficult child-bearing, but 


AT BIRTH 


97 


who find themselves in abnormal conditions. In this class are 
found all deaths of mothers, all deaths of babes, all cases of exces¬ 
sive and excruciating pain, all prolonged labor, with its anxiety 
and suffering, and all diseases that are entailed upon parent and 
offspring, with their attendant dangers. Two essential elements 
conspire to bring about the troubles; one is the ill-formation of 
the body ; the other is an incorrect method of living, for all abnor¬ 
mal conditions come out of the latter cause. The power to avert 
this danger lies with the woman ; if she ignores it, and nature is 
kind to her in bodily formation, the child will be a discredit to 
the race ; if she ignores it, and nature has been unkind to her in 
bodily formation, her life and that of her child will be imperiled. 

It is to furnish knowledge, where lack of it may dwell, 
that the present volume is prepared. It is to take away the excuse 
of ignorance, the cloud that relieves millions of women from their 
personal responsibility to their Creator, that this book has had its 
birth and goes forth upon its mission. It will eventually find its 
way into every home in the land, where life is held dear ; it will 
lay bare the truth as it is in nature, and as it goes onward into the 
lives of those who have suffered or may suffer, its coming will 
mark the line where accountability begins ; for it says plainly that 
the death of the mother at child-birth is due to lack of knowledge; 
that the death of the child is due to ignorance; that the pain, the 
anguish, the torture of hours upon hours of labor, are due to not 
knowing what is necessary in order to prepare for so great an event 
in woman’s life. Remember that it is in the fourth class that the 
dangers occur, but that it is in the second class that the monstrous 
results are found. The latter burden the offspring all through life, 
the former are immediate in their chief evils, though often marring 
mother or child for a lifetime. 

There is but one remedy, and that is the application of 
the laws of nature to the physical condition of the prospective 
mother. It is hard, in the few hours or days preceding birth, to 
mold and prepare the body of the parent so that abnormal con¬ 
ditions may be changed to normal; that need scarcely be hoped 
for. But, beginning in the earlier stages, the woman may control 
her fate, may make the transaction easy, may bring into the world 
a perfectly healthy child, and make herself a better condition of 
health by thus paying this debt she honorably owes to the world. 
What'she should do is the subject-matter of the next chapter. 


CHAPTER XII. 


SAFETY OF THE MOTHER. 


P REPARING for the event that occasions so much concern, 
is a far more logical thing than attempting to make patch- 
work out of disaster. It is generally too late to reverse 
conditions that are ominous; but every day has a value, even 
where hope is small. A well-formed woman of twenty-six sum¬ 
mers, of sunny disposition, of bright mind, of excellent physique, 
and of apparently perfect health, was married under circum¬ 
stances that promised a happy marriage lot. In a few months 
she knew that the most honorable of womanly duties was devolv¬ 
ing upon her, and thereupon she adopted a seclusion that was 
prompted by foolishness. She remained in doors, ate as she 
pleased, lounged about much of the time, lay abed late in the 
morning, and simply waited for the time to come. It came, 
and with it a protracted period of suffering, lasting thirty-two 
hours; and shortly after its termination, she closed her eyes as in 
sleep and sank to final rest. Her death was but the penalty paid 
for neglect. It could have been averted as surely as loss of life 
may be spared by stepping aside from the track on which the train 
approaches. 

With due respect to women who are prey to whims of 
appetite and intense cravings after this or that kind of food, that 
must be had or dire results will be visited upon the child, we will 
say that a reasonable amount of sense is necessary in diet, if the 
flesh of mother and child is to be made clean, healthy and vital, 
so as to render birth brief and comparatively painless. It must 
be understood that the babe is to be a fully animate being, not a 
half living, sluggish lump of infancy dumped into the world with 
a sleepy unconsciousness. It must live, have vigor, show vital 
energy and aid material]y in its own transit. Of all dangerous 
births, the most to be feared is that in which the child takes the 
least part. Now all this vigor is made by proper foods in the diet 
of the mother for the months previous. And her own vital condi- 

(98) 




AT BIRTH 


99 


tion is likewise established. In other words, what a woman eats 
has much to do with her own safety as well as that of the offspring. 

Whims and cravings may be suppressed, at least in a very 
great degree. It is one of the gratifying facts in this line of inves¬ 
tigation that the woman who has the best health of body, the most 
sensible mind, and the most evenly balanced nervous system, is 
free from whims and cravings; entirely and absolutely free. Many 
such women have been reported from reliable sources. Against 
this desirable combination are the others, possibly in a large ma¬ 
jority, who have a semi-insane passion for lettuce to-day, bananas 
to-morrow, ice-cream the day after, beefsteak the next, and so on, 
generally striking a time when the things wanted are out of reach; 
and being assured that the child will be marked, if the articles are 
not forthcoming. It is true that certain strains or shocks to the 
nervous system may mark the unborn child, but the supposed 
markings are due to other causes. Thus the familiar beefsteak 
appearance of the face, a purple hue, always ascribed to the ina¬ 
bility of the mother to acquire a certain steak on a certain occasion 
when a sudden and uncontrollable passion for it took possession of 
her, is, in fact, due to blood poisoning; and sometimes probably 
caused by a too heavy meat diet. 

It must be remembered that many fatal accidents have 
been caused by tainted blood; many children have lost their lives 
by inheriting this trouble from their mothers; women have fallen 
victims to the poisoning of blood; and, after the babe has come 
into the world, mothers have flooded to death by loss of the vitality 
that had already been reduced to its minimum. It is undoubtedly 
true that the human stomach is made to digest animal flesh; but 
there are times when the meat diet may be lessened to the advan¬ 
tage of the health. A mother, about to bring into life a being 
whose welfare is largely in her keeping, should become familiar 
with the law of meat assimilation. It is this: the flesh of the 
steer is the best; of the ox, or cow, the next best; all called beef. 
This meat is to animal diet what wheat is to vegetable diet; the 
staff or standard. Beef is not made from beef, or from meat of 
any kind; if it was, it would be unfit for food. The stomach of 
cattle will not receive and digest meat. The hog is adapted to 
either kind of food. Let it be fed exclusively on vegetation, as 
grain, nuts, and green food, and its meat is always palatable and 
semi-healthful; especially after a few generations of such care. 


100 


CHILD LIFE 


Milk detracts slightly from this value. Meat fed to swine destroys 
the value of its flesh as food; let any person eat of it, and the 
blood will show taint. Carry the experiment farther; give the 
swine more meat; let the pork from such swine be eaten in greater 
abundance, and the human flesh will become dark, flabby, soft, 
full of sores, and half rotten. Pork is partly meat fed in some 
sections of the country; and it is a matter of uncertainty what 
kind is eaten. 

The principle is this : the meat of grain-fed animals is in 
equipoise between good and bad, and is most vital for such reason ; 
but the meat of flesh-fed animals is semi-rotten, and all flesh so 
produced is tainted. Apply this principle to the human body and 
we find that the human flesh produced from grain and other veg¬ 
etation is in the equipoise of health; but let it be made from meat, 
and it becomes tainted and easily a prey to disease. Now take the 
third step, and we have the following result, as seen in the inci¬ 
dents stated : dogs fed upon a vegetable diet are, in three genera¬ 
tions, fit for food as meat; dogs fed largely upon meat go' mad 
more readily; dogs fed upon meat of flesh-fed swine or other 
animals, break out in sores and die of black blood. The more 
meat a mother eats during pregnancy, the darker her blood be¬ 
comes, and the darker will be the blood of the infant; the darker 
the blood, the more sluggish will be the vitality; the more sluggish 
the vitality, the more difficult will be the child-bearing. 

We are not advising a purely vegetable diet; for nature 
decrees otherwise. The use of meat is a firmly-established habit. 
Its danger is in its fiber, or string-tissue; let this be emptied of its 
contents as obtained in slowly-cooked soups and broth, and the 
fiber thrown away, and the meat question would settle itself; not 
merely for mothers, but for all persons at all times. The best, 
cleanest and most healthful forms of meats, are in milk, butter, 
buttermilk, new cheese, eggs and honey. All these are produced 
from animal life; and next to such grains as wheat, barley and 
corn, are mankind’s choicest foods. After them come fresh fish, 
then beef, lamb, and fowls. Veal is not so good, especially when 
milk-fed altogether, as milk is meat, and the danger to the blood 
is increased. Meat is intended by nature as a makeshift, a sort of* 
second best. 

The diet of the mother should, during pregnancy, be lim¬ 
ited in such foods as will make child-birth dangerous and painful; 


AT BIRTH 


101 


and extended in such other foods as will increase the vitality of 
child and mother, reduce pain, and hasten labor. To accomplish 
these purposes, we shall present a list of eatables that may be used 
in a general way ; and add a specific diet for more exact guidance. 

GENERAL FOODS. 

Some of these are not relished by all; but a selection may be 
taken from them, if used in combination. Some foods, like rice 
for instance, cannot be taken alone without detriment ; yet, in 
combination with others, are exceedingly valuable. The mother, 
carrying an unborn child, should eat daily, every day of the term, 
some of the preferred grains, and some of the preferred fruits. 
In dividing the articles of food, we would suggest the following 
arrangement, though it may be varied at will : 

Breakfasts to be full meals. 

Dinners at noon, not in the evening. 

Suppers between six and seven in the evening. 

Breakfasts to consist of preferred grains with other things. 

Dinners to consist of rich meat soups with other things. 

Suppers to consist of bread, rice, fruits and some form of cus¬ 
tards at times. 

If meats are to be used they should be had as follows: for 
breakfast, a small piece of beefsteak, with outside edges cut off; 
cooked until the red center begins to turn brown, yet shows red; for 
dinner, meat soup, prepared in cold water and allowed to come to 
a boil very slowly, then thoroughly cooked; or else meat stew, 
avoiding the meat fiber ; for the evening meal, no meat at all. Beef, 
lamb, fowl and fish are the preferred meats in such cases. 

SPECIAL FOODS. 

What is eaten previous to the third month is of less import¬ 
ance than what is taken after, although at all times a good 
Ralstonite will observe the rules of health stated in the Book of 
General Membership. About the third month of pregnancy care 
should begin, with the resolution to follow it to the end. The 
meats preferred have already been detailed in the preceding para¬ 
graph. The grains in their order of value are as follows : 

Whole wheat with bran removed. For morning it is 
best as a breakfast food, all prepared for cooking, the coarse part, 
or bran, carefully taken out. Several flouring mills are so pre¬ 
paring wheat, among them is the large concern of St. Louis, Mo., 


102 


CHILD LIFE 


Robinson, Danforth & Co., of Twelfth and Gratiot streets. The 
reason why wheat is the best of grains is because it contains all 
the elements needed by the human body, and in the proportions 
required. It is a marvel of creative wisdom. It seems to stand 
forth as a proof of the purpose of God toward man. Contrary to 
this purpose, which is almost a miracle in itself, is the method 
adopted by the fancy flouring mills of the country by which they 
make the flour as white as possible, and to that end use the starch 
and cast out the valuable food elements. It is this excessively 
white flour that is the cause of so much stomach derangement in 
the present age. At any event, the mother having to eat for her¬ 
self and her unborn babe needs the food as God made it to grow, 
and whole wheat is her greatest blessing. Next to the breakfast 
food is whole wheat flour; a few first-class mills, acting under 
advice of leading physicians, are making this flour with special 
care, notably the Topeka Milling Company, of Kansas, using 
selected wheat. The white flour made by general mills is not only 
weak by reason of having its value taken out, but is almost always 
adulterated with chemicals, alum, white earth, and various in¬ 
gredients to increase its whiteness for selling purpose. No better 
rule could be adopted than to avoid white flour altogether. The 
dark is the only pure. It makes a deliciously rich and nutritious 
bread. In former days, before the Ralston Health Club had com¬ 
pelled the public and the mills to take notice of the wrong methods 
used in making flour, the millers aimed to produce a whole wheat 
flour by including the shell or bran, and this they called graham 
flour, but it was and is to-day an unnatural product, although 
bran is valuable for the dust of phosphate that clings to it, and 
that will come off in warm or cold water, and is used as a drink. 
Bran should never be taken into the stomach, as it is an indigest- 
ble shell, therefore graham bread is not good. 

While bread is the staff of life, it is not all that is de¬ 
sired, for a change is advantageous. Yet> whole wheat flour, con¬ 
taining as it does, all that the body requires in exact proportions, 
is bound to be in the future, as it was in the past, even in Biblical 
times, the larger part of mankind’s food. It is fully seventy or 
eighty per cent. It may be prepared in various ways. Potatoes 
are also valuable, when taken with whole wheat in any form. The 
best form in which to cook potatoes is to mash them, mixed with 
milk, cream and butter, or part of these, and properly seasoned. 


AT BIRTH 


103 


Next best are boiled, baked and stewed potatoes. Avoid fried 
potatoes in every form. Here we have the two leading staple 
foods—whole wheat and potatoes. Any person conld live and 
labor hard on this diet every day in the year, except that variety 
is more tempting. The choicest steak contains no more and only 
part of what is found in wheat. 

The evening meal should be one that would induce sleep 
and quietude of the nervous system. It is important that while 
the mother sleeps the child should have the benefit of that period 
of rest, for it grows only when the mother is sleeping. Meats and 
heavy foods at night, keep the nerves active and the muscles 
twitching, by reason of which the child is deprived of its vitality. 
Rice is the best sleep producer in the line of foods. Of itself 
it is not capable of supporting life, but taken with other foods, 
in proper combination, it is capable of affording peculiarly valu¬ 
able effects. It is necessary to keep in mind what results are 
sought. Thus, if the gentlest of dispositions for refined life were 
sought, rice and fish, taken four or five times in the list of twenty- 
one meals a week, would produce the end desired, all other things 
being equal. Rice of itself will dull the mind and nerves. It is 
a wonderful sleep-producer, if taken alone. Its effects are quiet¬ 
ing on the mind, and gentle on the nervous system j yet one 
awakes in the morning refreshed and vigorous.- The reason of this 
is because, inducing sound sleep, it enables all the functions of the 
body to heal from their strain of the day preceding. 

The strengthening foods, such as the heavy grains, and 
meats, if used, should be taken at morning and at noon, but never 
at night. 

FOODS TO AVOID. 

In the condition mentioned, it is necessary to avoid the fol¬ 
lowing injurious articles of food : 

Avoid fried potatoes, fried cakes, doughnuts, crullers, pie 
crust, cakes and fancy puddings. 

Avoid pork, veal, 'corned beef, or pickled meats in any form ; 
canned oysters, shrimps and lobster, or any meats in cans. If 
neuralgia is severe, a diet of whole wheat in the form of breakfast 
food, and cold boiled ham, mostly fat, laid between slices of whole 
wheat flour bread, will relieve the pain, unless very great, in 
which case, almond nuts, slightly browned, furnish a natural 
remedy. Fat ham is recommended by physicians to-day in cases 


104 


CHILD LIFE 


of neuralgia; as it seems to be more reliable than any other means 
of cure. Of course the use of pork is contrary to Ralstonism; 
but the fat of any meat is free from the objections usually arrayed 
against it. 

VALUE OF FRUITS. 

Ripe fruits, palatable to the taste, are of unusual value 
to the prospective mother. They are great eliminators; that is, 
they throw off from the system much that cannot be got out in any 
other way. They keep bones and muscles free; as the chief duty 
of fruits is to prevent old age matter from clogging the system; 
and the parts from becoming stiff and immovable. Fruits are de¬ 
ceptive in their value; when thoroughly ripe and relishable, they 
can be eaten as long as the acids of the mouth do not reject them; 
if not ripe, their little cells are indigestible, and pass through the 
stomach and along the canal doing damage as they go. Apples, 
when thoroughly mellow, are among the best friends of the body; 
yet, if slightly hard, they cause derangement and lead to catarrh 
of the stomach and intestines—as do fried food particles that can¬ 
not be readily digested. 

The rule of fruits is thorough ripeness, mellowness, and 
palatability; avoiding the softness that indicates decay. The 
poorest economy is that which cuts out a spoiled part of fruit and 
uses the remainder, in the belief that what does not show decay is 
free from it. The whole should be rejected. Cooking produces 
mellowness; yet to cook green and sour fruits until they have 
been made relishable by fire and sugar, is not advisable. Nature 
should ripen, and cooking may then mellow the fruit. There are 
all varieties of this excellent article of food procurable in the 
United States and raised within our own domain. From Maine 
to California every state has some share in the gift of fruits to her 
people. Florida contributes a large annual quantity, and a much 
better quality than the imported rivals of her line. 

California in recent years has done so much to provide 
the table with luscious and palatable fruits that she may be called 
the banner garden of earth. For variety she has no end. For 
flavor, beauty, high quality, and tender richness, her fruits are 
not only the equal of the best products in the circuit of the globe, 
but stand unequalled in many of the most healthful kinds. More 
than this, they may be had in any village, town or city in America, 


AT BIRTH 


105 


in a state of freshness as though taken from the orchard and placed 
at once upon the table. Until within a few years, we were com¬ 
pelled to import our most delicious fruits; and that habit still 
clings to-day. It is un-American to buy a less valuable article 
abroad, when its superior is obtainable in our own country. The 
dried fruits, and all importations, should be discarded. Dried 
grapes, raisins, figs, prunes, dates, plums, oranges, bananas, and 
all that are raised under other flags are inferior to American-raised 
oranges, pears, apples, grapes, plums, peaches, apricots, and cher¬ 
ries ; all delightfully wholesome when fully ripened. The era of 
health may well be said to have dawned. 

Now what is the value of fruit? It performs the duty of 
elimination. It travels through the body, from skin to center, 
through every fine channel and vein, keeping course with the blood, 
picking up particle by particle of impure matter, especially old age 
deposit which is found even in children, and carrying all these out 
of the system. It is distilled water, made and preserved by nature, 
but having some decided advantages over the distillation made by 
boiling, which is in itself better than ordinary water. The chief 
property of distilled water in the system is to prevent stiffening of 
the bones and muscles. This has been stated in a more elaborate 
way, with attendant illustrations, in the Book of General Member¬ 
ship of the Ralston Health Club. Distilled water is really an ab¬ 
sorbent vapor, exerting great solvent powers; so great, indeed, 
that a quart of it daily might prove too active, and make the bones 
and muscles too pliable. Rain water is distilled water; taken up 
into the clouds as vapor and there condensed and dropped to the 
earth; if caught before it falls into the ground, it is better than the 
artificially made distilled water, but not so good as fruits. It is a 
great absorbent; so if it stands long in any place, it attracts foreign 
matter until it falls to the par of common water. Fruits have their 
water held in, and are therefore protected. To prevent loss and 
change, the canning and sealing of fruits are excellent measures. 
The fear that canned goods are poisonous is generally groundless; 
and entirely so as to corn, salmon, and fruits. Some of the best 
grades of these are better than any other food of this kind that can 
be eaten. A prospective mother who can afford it, should take 
pleasure in laying in a case of each of the preferred fruits in cans; 
always getting the very best, as they cost much less. Those fruits 
that are perfectly wholesome in cans are apricots, pears (not 


106 


CHILD LIFE 


mushy), peaches (not hard nor mushy), and white cherries. Let 
us now examine the reason. 

The dangers of child-birth are increased in proportion as 
the body, bones, muscles and flesh-tissue become stiff through 
inactivity, or clogged by old age deposits. The latter are calca¬ 
reous and chalky in their nature. They make the bones larger 
and more clumsy. They stiffen the muscles. They clog the 
blood-vessels and the finer tubes through which all life must flow 
and reflow a thousand times daily. As these fill up, the functions 
are carried on with greater difficulty, the bones harden and lose 
their flexibility; and the body is totally unprepared for the great 
event. That which is most needed to make child-birth easy, is 
flexibility or pliability of bones and muscles. Fruits, or distilled 
water, aid to accomplish this chief purpose. 

Activity is fully as necessary as attention to the diet. 
It is suicidal for a woman to rest, to lounge about, to avoid self¬ 
exertion. The first two months are times of doubt; but when the 
fact is established, the mother must begin to add as much as pos¬ 
sible to the activities of each day, avoiding strain or overtaxing 
her strength. A walk out of doors of one or two hours, or gentle 
exercise, something like that prescribed in Ralston Physical Culture, 
but always quiet and free from attempts to display great strength, 
are necessary. In the third, fourth and fifth months, the amount 
and energy of exercise may be increased ; but jumping or sudden 
movements are not safe in ordinary cases. As the time approaches, 
the exertions should be made less. The hard working woman 
has nothing to fear, if she does not grossly violate the rules of food 
selection. To all interested in the examination of the exact rules 
of food-use, and the preparation of eatables, the book entitled 
Model Meals is recommended; as, by its directions, no mistakes 
are possible. 

To sum up, we find the safety of the mother, as far as her 
period of preparation is concerned, to rest in the three following 
precautions: 

1. To eliminate clogging material. 

2. Constant activity. 

3. Proper diet, intended to maintain the vitality of the mother 
and child. For every ounce of unfit food she eats she adds to the 
doubt that hovers over the hour of fate, involving the destiny of 
two lives. 


CHAPTER XIII. 


A HAPPY DELIVERY. 


G REATEST among the proud mothers of the world is she 
who can boast of a quick delivery with few pains. It is a 
mistake to suppose that the skill of a physician, or the 
science of modern practice can accomplish such results, for nature 
has never yet chosen them as her agents. The story is briefly told 
in the one idea of the ripening of a nut which bursts its shell when 
grown to maturity and comes forth by its own act. This is nature. 
In child-birth the shell or sack is restricted by the bones, muscles 
and flesh of the mother, so that two counter influences are at work 
at one and the same time. Herein arise the pain and danger of 
the process. 

It is necessary that the child itself should have its own 
covering or sack which encloses it. This may be said to correspond 
to the thin film of the egg seen when broken. It is also necessary 
that the child and its sack be protected from interference by out¬ 
side influences, and here we find the uterus employed. It may be 
said to correspond to the shell of an ordinary egg, which serves no 
other purpose than to act as a shield of protection. Further than 
these two covers a third is necessary, and that is the body of the 
mother. In the cavity most convenient for its nourishment during 
development, and for its exit when ripe this sack is placed, and 
one of the most necessary considerations for its support and safety 
is the closeness and compact tightness of the apartment in which 
it dwells. In this is found an element of danger when the time 
comes for its delivery. 

The act of ripening is thoroughly natural. The minute 
study of growth discloses the working of an intelligence in the 
countless little cells that are born every second, and that are dis¬ 
tributed along the lines of development as the child increases in 
size. This process stops the instant the infant is finished and 
ready for the world. If it could not come forth within a certain 
length of time it would die in its prison house. When the cells 
c$ase to generate their own offspring for the use of the new being 

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108 


CHILD LIFE 


all the work is at a standstill. It is waiting. The thick sack, 
known later as the after-birth, is in the way and must be broken 
open, next the uterus is in the way and must be forced open. 
Lastly, the body of the mother is in the way, and must yield to 
the great mass that is to follow. Here are three obstructions. 

Ordinarily a ripe sack becomes weakened by its owm in¬ 
activity, and its wall is broken through by the child within, who 
keeps up a vigorous kicking and punching with its feet and hands 
until an opening is forced, just as the chick in the shell, when 
ready to begin active hostilities against the early worm of the field, 
decides that it is time to get out of his pre-natal home, and so 
pounds away with his beak until he cracks the wall, and then 
winks at the old hen when she discovers the transaction. Only the 
baby does not wink. He shouts. The chick has the advantage 
when he is out of his first enclosure, he is out for good. The babe 
must make its own opening through the thick sack or afterbirth, 
but then the battle is only just begun. 

The mother feels the symptoms a few hours in advance 
of the real process of the birth action; and these early pains are 
often mistaken for gripings in the abdomen, as if something eaten 
was disturbing her system. The effort is going on toward a gen¬ 
eral relaxation of the body; and it culminates in the bursting of 
the sack, which is accompanied by a release of the water it con¬ 
tains. After this much is accomplished, the first and easiest step is 
over. The offspring is born in fact, but not to the world. A 
splendid fight is now at hand, to remove obstacles that are purely 
physical and mechanical. Anything that will release the child is 
sufficient, so far as it is concerned; but the life and health of the 
mother are entitled to chief consideration. The old idea that the 
child will suffocate from close pressure is not correct; but it is true 
that certain pressure will cause strangulation and destroy its life, 
Thus, if its neck is so lodged in the passage that a pressure is 
placed against its veins, it will quickly die, just as a person may 
be choked to death by tightening something about the neck. In 
other words, nothing must be done to stop the circulation of the 
blood or the beating of its heart. 

The pains come now in waves, or at intervals; their pur¬ 
pose being to dilate the uterus. When this is slow to open, a 
physician is justified in assisting its dilation; which he well knows 
how to do. Indeed, every case of slow birth-action should be as- 


AT BIRTH 


109 


sisted mechanically; and the doctor makes a great mistake who 
allows the woman to suffer a long series of pains, when a little 
mechanical assistance will relieve her and hasten the progress of 
matters. In the olden days it was customary to “let nature take 
its own course;” which was proper when it could take its own 
course; hut, when the mother has abused the primary laws of na¬ 
ture in diet and regime, there are serious obstacles in the way of 
its taking its course; and it is sheer cruelty on the part of the at¬ 
tendants to wait for what may not occur in thirty hours, during all 
which time the poor woman is suffering agony. It requires from 
ten to three hundred sharp pains to open the uterus, whereas me¬ 
chanical dilation concurrent w T ith the efforts of nature may reduce 
these very materially. 

When the second obstruction has been removed, as' 
far as need be, the third and most serious, in the general run of 
cases, is to be met. This is the body of the mother. The opening 
must be forced into the largest aperture possible, through which a 
human being is to come into the world. It is like driving a wedge 
into a tight place; the child is the wedge, and the pains are the 
driving power. They contract the upper part of the uterus, squeeze 
the child downward, and urge it onward to its exit. Any person 
can readily see that such a proceeding is sure to be slow and tedious 
when the aperture is not large enough to allow the child to pass 
through. It is here that the judgment and skill of a physician are 
most urgently required; and it is at this crisis that accidents 
occur, both to the child and the mother. The progress occasion¬ 
ally comes to a standstill, while the pain goes on and the suffering 
increases. The presentation has much to do with the ease of the 
movement'through. When the mother has had proper exercise 
during the preceding months, the child will be in a natural posi¬ 
tion ; that is, upside down; and the highest point of the head 
will appear first. This indicates a probably safe delivery. When 
the feet come first, there is some danger; but a breach presenta¬ 
tion (that is when the middle of the child comes first) is positively 
perilous; and is the result of lazy, indolent habits on the part of 
the mother. The physician must lessen the suffering and hasten 
the delivery, by all the assistance possible. Many a woman dies 
every year because of neglect to do this. Only an ignorant doctor 
will allow a breach presentation to continue at a standstill. The 
child may die of strangulation, and this may be prevented by 


110 


CHILD LIFE 


keeping the cord, or connecting blood tube, clear of pressure or 
entanglement. In many cases the use of the forceps is desirable, 
even in head presentation. No physician who is skilful should 
hesitate to use these. Sometimes they save a whole day of suf¬ 
fering. 

We cannot impress too strongly upon mothers the law 
that governs a safe and easy delivery. It is useless to expect suc¬ 
cess, when the preparation for it is not begun until the critical 
moment has arrived. To take the most vital of all examples, the 
struggle of the foetus to pass through the body of the mother and 
come out into the world, we see the folly of the hope that a 
doctor’s skill is able to soften the muscles and relax the bones that 
have been stiffened during a long period of neglect. Any bone 
that is not exercised freely, becomes dry, and tends toward a 
chalky condition; thus losing its flexibility and readiness to yield. 
Imagine a woman whose bones are as dry as a stiff skeleton; how 
much hope has she at child-birth ? When proper food and suit¬ 
able exercises are taken, the blood circulates through the bones 
and a sap or fluid fills their pores, in order to impart a certain 
degree of pliability. Thus a person of sixty who practices a bal¬ 
anced system of physical culture, could sustain a violent fall 
without injury; while another person, much younger, who paid no 
attention to this law of nature, would break a bone in a much 
lighter fall. 

In the last stage of delivery the muscles as well as the 
bones must yield. They, too, require a healthful condition, qr 
they will be stiff and obstinate. Pains accomplish all they can, 
and then become futile; sometimes ceasing altogether; while the 
unborn infant is lodged between its recent abode and the impassible 
wall that prevents it from coming forth into the world. Sometimes 
the child is cut to pieces, and so taken out. Sometimes the abdo¬ 
men of the mother is cut through, and the living infant brought 
safely out. But generally the forceps are used, and the mother 
torn; or else the physician and attendants stand paralyzed with 
doubt while the woman loses strength and sinks into death.' No 
skill can render easy that which is made difficult by the mechan¬ 
ical obstruction of the body. But every prospective mother can 
guarantee to herself and to her child, the absolute certainty of 
safety to both, if she will begin right, and at the proper time, to 
lay the foundation for the development of those conditions which 


AT BIRTH 


111 


are sure to remove the mechanical obstruction of her body. Foods 
and regime have much to do with this; but a balanced and syste¬ 
matic course of physical culture, indulged in without violence, will 
give flexibility where it is most needed; will add greatly to the 
vigor of the child ; and will cause the functions of both to work in 
harmony to the end that the foetus may be expelled quickly and 
with few pains. 

This method has been tested, but proof was hardly 
necessary where the law of nature was apparent. Of ten thousand 
cases of working women, whose bodies were developed by their 
daily toil, not one suffered either in duration of time or severity of 
pain ; and more than one thousand were free from inconvenience] 
The washerwoman who stopped her work at the tub at ten o’ clock, 
gave birth to a fine boy, and resumed her washing at half-past 
eleven, is a type of the intentions of nature in the process of child¬ 
bearing. As the woman of sedentary habits cannot find inclination 
or opportunity to perform hard work, she can better this by doing 
for herself what hard work cannot, namely, develop a balanced 
use of the muscular system, acquire better form, avoid the crude 
roughness produced by severe toil, and make her body a temple 
of health out of which shall come only the finest specimens of 
humanity. The one hundred exercises known as the Ralston 
system of physical culture are by far the best, for they are founded 
on scientific law r s; one set of muscles being active at a time, and 
all having part in turn, thus ensuring the best-shaped body and 
the finest form, taking off surplus fat and building flesh where the 
bones are scantily covered. The heavy exercises of the whole-body 
series should be avoided. In case you are not a complete member 
of the club, which includes this system among other departments, 
you may invent a series of physical movements designed to carry 
out the principles herein stated. 

It has been stated that the physician cannot supply to 
the patient, that most desirable of all things connected with child¬ 
birth, a safe delivery. In spite of all the skill, the care, the pre¬ 
caution that may be commanded, there is no substitute for the aid 
which nature affords, when this aid has been invoked for the 
months preceding the event. Yet we do not place a less estimate on 
the value of the physician and his skill. He should, by all means, 
have charge of the case. His views are in accord with ours ; and, 
to prove this, we quote the following language from one of the 


112 


CHILD LIFE 


most recent leading medical works on the subject: 11 To effect a 

speedy and natural delivery, good muscular development is essen¬ 
tial, while healthy nervous stimulus must also be present, witff 
sufficient general strength on the part of the mother to maintain 
muscular activity. The most frequent deviation from this condi¬ 
tion is to be found in women of poor muscular development, with 
susceptible nervous systems and often impaired nutrition.” By 
this it will be seen that Ralstonism and the medical profession are 
in exact accord. Herein lies the only hope of a safe and happy 
delivery. Any woman who will follow the advice and method 
stated in the present volume, will have nothing to fear. In addi¬ 
tion to the certainty of escaping peril, she will bring into the world 
a child whose vigor and health will be safeguards against the ail¬ 
ments of infancy. This blessing of itself will relieve her of the 
greatest of burdens. Let us then, one and all, become Ralstonites 
and spread the good tidings of safety to the mother and health to 
the child. 




Third Grand Division 



Child Life 


DURING INFANCY 



THE DIET, CARE AND TREATMENT 
OF YOUNG CHILDREN 


FROM BIRTH TO WEANING 










CHAPTER XIV. 


WHAT TO EAT. 


Q UESTIONS relating to this subject have been sent by 
thousands to the Ralston Health Club, each year of its 
existence. What could not be answered in letters and re¬ 
repeated hundreds of times, may be stated once for all in print. 
The child is born with a stomach. Its life is purely instinctive. 
Erom the outer edge of the lips to the exit of the stomach, a nerv¬ 
ous excitement prevails, all under one general management, 
known as acute and automatic hunger. As the heart beats and 
the lungs breathe by machinery of their own, so the mouth draws 
and swallows by a purely machine-like motion. This drawing 
and swallowing may be better understood by using the more fami¬ 
liar phrase, the child sucks. It will do it, even if the top of its 
head was blown off and life retained ; and there are instances of 
sucking when the brain had been removed. The action is one that 
is excited by contact with the nerves. 

It is a curious plan of nature, this automatic, or machine¬ 
like instinct. If you tickle the nerves inside the nose, the dia¬ 
phragm or floor of the lungs will give a violent jump, intended 
to throw a volume of air against the intrusion and expel it. If 
you put a dry cracker in the mouth, in a short time an excessive 
flow of saliva will follow, to moisten and absorb it. If you touch 
the lips of a new-born babe, its mouth will commence to draw 
and swallow, known as sucking. It will do this asleep or awake. 
Mothers, when desiring to placate a crying child, often insert their 
finger, and thus divert the action from one set of nerves to another. 
Were it not for this provision of nature, very few children would 
live. 

Natural food is any food that contains the elements 
needed by the child’s body. It had been previously living on its 
mother’s blood, or, in reality, its mother’s choicest milk-blood; 
and enjoyed an active part in the circulation of the parent body. 
Substantially the same fluid that was sent to nourish the unborn 
child, being not cut off, seeks to find vent at the most accessible 

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DURING INFANCY 


115 


•outlet, the breasts, and thither it tends, striving to escape. This 
transfer from one outlet to another is perfectly logical; and it 
.simply seeks to meet the child in life, as it had previously fed it 
before its outer existence began. Let the milk of the mother be 
drawn continually by child, or by artificial means, one year, two 
years, three years or more, and the return to the monthly sick¬ 
ness will be delayed ; the body cannot supply the two flows. Let 
the milk be denied escape, and the functions of menstruation will 
be resumed ; and this will occur at any time after birth, allowing 
about one month for the transfer to take place. Womanhood, 
therefore, is a flowing existence, from about the age of fourteen to 
the age of forty-five. During non-pregnancy, it escapes in men¬ 
struation ; during pregnancy, it nourishes the child ; during nurs¬ 
ing, it appears at the breast in the form of milk, which is but one 
degree of change from blood ; and after weaning time, it returns to 
its previous habit. This flow is woman’s most important function. 

We would expect to find the milk of the mother, the 
natural and the best of food for the new-born babe. So it is, but 
it is not the only nutrition of a high value, for that which builds 
the body will support life. As soon as the child is born, it is 
washed in warm water, and put to its mother’s breast as soon as 
any flow is perceptible. This first fluid is not milk, but a purga¬ 
tive intended to create vitality in the stomach and intestines of the 
infant. Some mothers, some nurses and some physicians, through 
ignorance, think it is poisonous ; and the babe is, therefore, kept 
from its mother for a day or longer. This is a serious mistake. It 
should be allowed to suck as soon as it is ready. The drawing off 
of the less palatable fluid benefits the child, and prepares the way 
for the milk itself, which will come sooner and be all the better for 
the active preparation. 

How 'long shall the child be fed upon its mother’s milk? 
A day ; a week ; a month ; a year ? It all depends upon the cir¬ 
cumstances. This diet is, of course, the most natural. When it 
is not enough for mother and child, the former will begin to fail in 
health, the milk will grow poor, and the babe will also suffer. To 
persist in feeding a child at the breast, when the mother is steadily 
running down, or is not convalescing to health, is pure folly. 
Many a woman, so weakened, has gone into a decline that ended 
in consumption. When circumstances are favorable we heartily 
advocate nursing at the breast in preference to all other methods ; 


116 


CHILD LIFE 


but, otherwise, not. You may take a thousand infants from such 
nursing at any time you please, from a minute to a year or more ; 
and every one of them can be brought up in as good health as 
though nursed, by using the preparations now for sale everywhere. 
The time of taking from the mother should be, as a minimum, 
when one or the other does not thrive; and as a maximum, at 
some convenient period to be discussed under the head of weaning. 

In nursing children a few things may be kept in mind : 

1. A babe takes food the third day ; but it should take the 
breast fluid soon after birth, say in an hour or two hours. 

2. If it is motherless, artificial food should be given it the 
third day ; or after forty-eight hours from birth ; never sooner. 

3. In nursing the breasts should be given alternately ; the 
right at one feeding, the left at another. 

4. Many babes cry and refuse to eat, as though in pain ; and 
are dosed for sickness ; when the only trouble is the fact that they 
cannot eat and breathe through the mouth at the same time. They 
must use the nose for respiration, while the mouth is employed. 
Mothers do not think of this, and they allow the flesh of the breast 
to obstruct the baby’s nose, while it vainly tries to get food. It 
naturally cries in protest, and for its protest gets medicine. A 
majority of the maladies of infancy are mechanical. 

5. Cold water ; clean, cold water is required to relieve its 
thirst; and while it only wets its lips and sips but little, letting it 
come out, the satisfaction is great. Every child should be offered 
a taste of cold water, not ice-cold, about once every hour, while 
awake, either night or day ; from the first week until it is able to 
talk and ask for what it wants. We have known infants to cry and 
scream with the agonies of thirst; the doctor to be sent for ; medi¬ 
cines administered without affect; and finally the sufferers put to 
sleep by drugs, only to wake out of a delirium of thirst. If you 
do not know how terrible is the torture, deprive yourself of water. 
The child is fed on milk that is sweet ; besides which, ‘the gums 
are inflamed by the preparation of coming teeth. A drink of cold 
water will avert apprehension of sickness ; and fully ninety per 
cent of infants cry themselves sick for this little relief. 

6. After each feeding the babe’s mouth should be washed out 
with .a piece of fine handkerchief dipped in cool water. Milk left 
in the mouth soon decays and causes thrush, a fungous growth, 
sometimes fatal. A more thorough precaution is that of using 


DURING INFANCY 


117 


borax as follows : Put half a teaspoonful of boracic acid powder 
in a cup of water ; and wash the mouth out twice a day. 

7. The best time to nurse or feed a very young child is just 
before it should go to sleep ; so that it may end its meal by falling 
asleep. 

8. Exact regularity is impossible, and it should not be at¬ 
tempted. Thought, coolness and good judgment on the part of 
the mother will accomplish much. 

9. The infant cries ; and, in its first six or eight months, 
always has a cause for crying. 

10. The cause may be a pin ; a scratch from the dress of 
mother or nurse; a compression or tightness of the clothing; thirst; 
nose-stoppage while trying to feed; a desire to be taken up; sleep¬ 
iness ; colic; inflamed mouth ; distress in the stomach ; weakness 
of its mother’s milk ; error in its mother’s diet; overfeeding, and 
other matters. The maladies will be discussed in the next chapter. 

11. Always see that there are no pins, or articles of jewelry 
about the clothing of one who handles the baby; and keep the 
clothing loose. 

12. When it desires to be taken up, it should be gratified. Its 
life is precious to those who love it; and every sacrifice should be 
made that is reasonable. These suggestions are stated here, because 
it is supposed when the baby cries, it is hungry and must be fed. 

13. There is more danger in overfeeding than in underfeeding. 

14. Frequency of nursing is a question that may be settled by 
circumstances. No child should ever be awakened because it is 
overdue, for at night it should go six to ten hours without nourish¬ 
ment, if it so chooses. 

15. For the first three months an infant may be fed or nursed, 
once every two hours during the day; and once about midnight, 
which means an hour or so before or after that time. 

16. For the next three months the time may average once 
every three hours during the day. Two-and-a-half hours will do 
as well. Midnight, or thereabouts, is the night hour. 

17. After six months of age, it should not be fed oftener than 
once in three hours on an average, up to the weaning time, which 
is when it is from nine to fourteen months old. Once at mid-night. 

18. It is not too often for a child to nurse once in three hours, 
even when it is a year old. Some grown-up children eat three 
meals a day, and good-sized lunches in between. 


118 


CHILD LIFE 


19. To regulate a babe by exact methods is theoretical non¬ 
sense. All circumstances should yield to its reasonable wishes. It 
is best governed when it is not opposed. 

20. As soon as the desire of the infant is clearly manifest, the 
only proper course is to yield to it, or else gently divert its atten¬ 
tion. To set up a firm denial, on the theory that it is being trained 
not to have its own way, is unnecessary cruelty, causing disap¬ 
pointment and pain gratuitously. 

21. A child, under six months of age, that can be pacified by 
nursing should be so indulged, rather than let it cry itself to sleep 
from exhaustion. 

22. Some mothers say, u It is too early yet, and baby is want¬ 
ing something to eat. It must wait. ’’ Why wait ? If it can be 
amused until the regular time, then adopt that plan; but do not 
force it to wait and cry, on the theory that it is being trained. 

23. Good babies play while nursing; that is, do not attend 
strictly to business. This should be encouraged, as it renders di¬ 
gestion easier, and lessens the chance of overloading the stomach. 
It may be taken away a dozen times, and finally drop sweetly to 
sleep. 

24. If menstruation is resumed, the mother must stop nursing 
the baby at once. 

25. When the health of the mother is delicate, or she is suffer¬ 
ing from disease of any kind, from depleted blood, or from a scrof¬ 
ulous tendency, which is denoted by sores on the face and body, 
she should not nurse her infant. 

26. Cow’s milk is not the same as human milk. It has less 
fat, less sugar, less cream-element, and more hard curd, than the 
milk of the mother. It is also somewhat acid. A young baby 
does not thrive on it so readily as on such foods as condensed milk, 
malted milk, and preparations put up specially for the purpose. 

27. The best way of using cow’s milk is not the way usually 
adopted. To add a greater proportion of cream will produce the 
extra fat required ; and to thin this, will lessen the curd or cheese 
danger. Therefore it is a good plan to let the milk stand until 
about half or less of the cream has risen, then let off the under 
half. This can be done by having a tin two-quart measure (or 
larger) filled with fresh milk; and, after three or four hours, pull¬ 
ing out a small wooden plug inserted near the bottom of the meas¬ 
ure ; thereby letting the lower half escape. What remains is rich 


DURING INFANCY 


119 


in fat. To render it digestible, add as much hot water as there 
was milk drawn off. This will be adapted to nearly all babes; 
and may be given in the usual nursing bottle filled for each meal. 

Weaning time marks the change from an all-milk diet to 
the use of other foods. The transfer from the milk of the mother 
to another milk, may release the mother, but does not wean the 
child. This transfer will be made by the babe itself, if it likes the 
contents of the bottle better than the breast; in which case, after 
one or two re-visits, it spurns the latter and will take only its new¬ 
found friend. When the time comes for giving it other foods than 
milk or infant nutrition, the more serious problems arise; and 
these are discussed in the fourth division of this volume, entitled 
Entering Childhood. 

Babies have large livers; which are proportionately 
smaller as the body grows. After being fed, they should lie on 
the right side for an hour; as the liver is on the right of the stom¬ 
ach, and if they lie on the left, digestion will be interfered with 
and bad dreams will cause sudden waking up. At the end of the 
first hour of sleep they may be turned upon the left side; as one 
position may deform the spine. Never hold the nursing bottle so 
that air will be sucked; as it develops stomach trouble. 


CHAPTER XY. 


CARE OF THE INFANT. 


A CCORDING to the divisions of this volume, the child is 
regarded as an infant from its safe arrival in the world to the 
time it graduates from the monotonous diet of mother’s 
milk, or the substitute of bottle food. It is in this period that the 
training of the child should begin ; for as the so and so is bent, the 
thus and so is inclined. Training the little lump of living flesh ! 
Setting down exact rules, mathematical examples, and geometrical 
lines, to apply to the ways and deviations of the angelic flower, 
fresh from the hand of God, and coming up into life to be con¬ 
taminated by the meanness of humanity ! 

Some babies have ugly faces, and most villainous dis¬ 
positions ; but they are not to blame for these characteristics. 
Heredity is a severe foe, or a delightful friend. The bad dispo- 
sitioned child is thrust into the world, without its consent, and the 
best must be done under the circumstances. The following rules 
are applicable to these unfortunates, although intended for the 
better class of offspring : 

1. A babe is ruled by instinct, until it is old enough to exer¬ 
cise choice, which is in a few weeks. While instinct is its master, 
it is incapable of being trained, except in some approach to regu¬ 
larity of habits, which are generally best when irregular. Some 
parents, notably methodical fathers, go about with mental yard¬ 
sticks, foot-rules and plumb-lines, ready to mark off the doings of 
the little innocent, and they are eager to begin their government 
in its early infancy, for fear it may be too late. They are nui¬ 
sances, and it is only a just retaliation that awards to them the 
vacational amusement of walking the floor of nights, with their 
subject in a horizontal attitude, shouting the advance of the one- 
man procession. 

2. When, however, the instinct period is gradually blended 
into the period of choice, the trouble begins. Then it is that the 
unintended tyrant would apply the thumb-screws and hold the 
babe to an exact regime. Why should a child, not old enough to 

( 120 ) 




DURING INFANCY 


121 


object to its name, be required to walk a straighter line than its 
grown-up brothers and sisters, or its parents? There are some 
valuable points of training that may be presented here. 

3. Choice is expressed by crying. It has no other method of 
objection. It cries easily and loud. A certain amount of lung 
exercise is essential to the development of the organs of breathing ; 
but a child allowed to cry unnecessarily will acquire an unpleas¬ 
ant disposition after awhile. 

4. Crying babies are reflections on their mothers or attendants. 
The rule is to appease the baby at once. Do not let it cry. Divert 
its attention by skilful management. Interest it in something that 
will please it. 

5. But you say this takes time. So it does ; but it is a duty ; 
it stands in the category of honorable duties, even if not inspired 
by love. Time and sacrifices are due to the little one. 

6. But you say it will spoil the child to appease or humor it. 
We hope you are able to see the difference between letting a baby 
have all it wants, and thus spoiling ^nd diverting its attention, so 
that it will not get nor want what it should not have, and thus not 
spoiling it. A skilful manager can without difficulty turn the 
wish to other directions. 

7. It does eventually spoil an infant to always humor it. 
Rule 6, however, shows the way to avoid such result, and yet not 
oppose the baby. Our theory is it should not be opposed. As 
between letting it have its own way and hurting its ultra-sensitive 
nature by cruel disappointment, the more loving plan is to let it 
have its own way. A few months afterward the art of diverting it 
should be followed. 

8. Some parents believe that the infant should be taught to 
sleep alone nights in its cold cradle in winter, even when but a 
month or tw T o old. This theory certainly is not nature, is not 
love, is not sociability. If the temperature of the room is sufficient 
the babe, on falling asleep between seven and eight o’ clock, should 
be put in its cradle. It will wake, perhaps, once or twice, at nine 
or ten, or later, and can then, by being cared for in the arms, be 
put back to sleep in its cradle, which should be by the side of the 
mother’s bed, within reach. 

9. When it awakes for its midnight meal, it should be taken 
into bed and snuggled close to its mother if it seems to have the 
slightest objection to staying in the cradle. After six or eight 


122 


CHILD LIFE 


months it may be easily trained to sleep alone till morning, if 
need be. 

10. A physician once related the method he adopted to train 
his three months’ old infant to sleep all night alone. It cried till 
near morning the first night; it cried only three hours, the second ; 
only ten minutes, the third ; and ever after seemed to understand 
the training, and gave no trouble. This is a cold-blooded method. 
It lacks love. It has proved advantageous in other cases, but we 
do not approve of it. 

11. Our belief is that a piece of humanity so young should be 
wrapped in the arms of affection, tended by vigils of sweetest love, 
and around its tiny life should be thrown the heartstrings of 
parental adoration. 

12. Before a child should be treated for illness, be fed, or 
cajoled, when it cries, a little injection of common sense should be 
inserted in the parents to enable them to ascertain the cause of the 
protest. Babies do not cry from sheer meanness. The sourest of 
them have some immediate cause. There are at this moment, 
while these lines are being written, more than one million fathers 
walking the night with screaming babies in their arms, with the 
house, and perhaps neighborhood in alarm, when a drink of water 
is all that is needed by these virile songsters. 

13. The height of good judgment is manifested in the study 
of infantile ways and wants. They must not be neglected, even 
an excess of attention will pay. 

14. Playthings should be freely provided; and before they are 
old enough to understand or use them. No better charity exists than 
that which buys toys for the little babes; and especially for those 
under one year of age. 

15. Change, variety, new places to go, new things to see, and 
frequent trips about the house, or without the house, in the arms 
as well as in vehicles, should be encouraged. 

16. Kissing the infant, when less than seven months old, and 
especially on the mouth, is a barbarous custom. It cannot be in¬ 
spired by love. From such practices come disease and sores, trans¬ 
mitted by germs that all adults carry with them. The poor baby, 
poor in the sense of unfortunate, is caressed and kissed in the 
course of a week by every variety of bad breaths and foul mouths 
that can be found in the schedule of bacteriology; by spinsters, 
thin-lipped maiden aunts, thick-lipped philanthropists, good mid- 


DURING INFANCY 


123 


dle-aged ladies with unclean teeth, shaky old ladies with black 
stubs of broken teeth, rosy-cheeked cousins with breaths as long as 
yard-sticks, neighborly women, women with advice to give, fluffy 
women who talk about their nerves, solemn women who tell you 
that “ the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away,” and girls from 
the non-kissable to the repressive age; all plunging at baby, be¬ 
cause its mouth is small and so tempting. Every one of these 
kissing women leaves a colony of germs on the mouth of baby; and 
it has the rash, and sore face, sometimes sore eyes, and sore mouth. 
As the skin gets older it becomes more like leather, and is able 
to resist these germ-bearing kisses. Seven months is time enough 
to begin the nuisance; though if the writer were a mother he would 
not allow promiscuous women to kiss his children at any age, 
unless they brought with them certificates of mouth and breath, at 
least seventy-five per cent clean. 

17. Close-breathing is bad for the infant. The purest, sweet¬ 
est breath is an emitted poison, intended by the Creator to carry 
away from the system the dangerous gas that kills. If it would 
kill the mother when retained in her lungs, it certainly would in¬ 
jure a more tender being when thrown in volumes into its face to 
be inhaled. The child must breathe in the air that is closest to it. 
Some nurses talk to babies, mouth to mouth, and the little ones 
are constantly inhaling poison direct from the great, coarse lungs 
of the offender. Some mothers sleep so as to exhale their own 
breath into the child’s face, and then wonder why it dies. Ex¬ 
haled air is so deadly a poison that, if breathed into a cup or goblet, 
it will instantly extinguish a lighted match. This poisonous gas 
falls to the floor. In a room where four persons slept in two beds; 
and the fifth, a healthy, robust man, lay on the floor all night; the 
latter arose in the morning so poisoned and nauseated that he 
swooned into unconsciousness. A babe should never sleep on the 
floor. Its crib should be as high as its mother’s bed; or not much 
lower. When in the parent’s bed, the face of the child should not 
be close enough to receive the exhalations of the mother. 

18. Cologne, or perfume, is poisonous to a person under ten 
years of age. It emits a volatile vapor that finds lodgment in the 
delicate membrane of the mouth and throat, even to the lungs. 
To test this, let any grown person sleep in a room where a saucer 
of cologne water, extract, or other perfume, is exposed; or tie a 
handkerchief dipped in it around the neck at night. The mouth 


124 


CHILD LIFE 


and nostrils will be excessively irritated the next day, and for a 
few days after; to a babe, this irritation is considerably magnified. 

19. A child should never sleep in the same bed with a person 
older than forty-five. An aged vitality is a great absorbent of 
youth. Some of the oldest of long-lived men and women have 
received their renewed energy by cultivating the companionship of 
children. The principle is one well known. Much more hurtful 
is it to the child when the aged person sleeps under the same cover 
and in a community of warmth with it. 

20. Flowers in profusion are pleasures for the moment. Their 
fragrance in small degree is not hurtful, as long as the flowers are 
fresh. The gases they give out are easily diffused, and so are not 
harmful. But, when the flowers begin to decay, they exhale a 
decided poison strong enough to render a person unconscious who 
remains in a close room with a large number of them. Any over¬ 
ripe flower should be placed where it can be seen, and not inhaled 
freely. To be on the safe side, it is better not to keep flowers very 
long in the room where there is a young child. 

21. A baby should not be excited, nor made to laugh ex¬ 
citedly. 

22. The habit of tickling an infant’s feet, or its body, to make 
it laugh, is sometimes indulged in, especially by young attendants, 
or amateur nurses. Convulsions may be produced by this torture. 

23. A very strong light should not be allowed to shine in its 
eyes. Some nurses and mothers are so careless that they permit 
the sun to fall full upon the unprotected face, while they chat 
pleasantly on the street corner. Loss of sight has been caused in 
this way. 

24. Infants rarely ever catch cold, it is unnatural for them to 
be afflicted by this malady. When they have cold, it may be 
safely asserted that the fault is clearly with the attendant or 
mother, and due to exposure. 

25. A daily bath is almost a blessing. The water should be 
at the same temperature as the child’s body. The bath should last 
two minutes. No soap should be used. The pores of the skin 
throw off all dirt; but the skin should be gently and thoroughly 
dried by wiping. Soap may be used on the hands only. 

26. Never wake the baby. Let it sleep its long quota, if it is 
so inclined. A healthy child will not be easily awakened by 
ordinary noise; but loud and unnecessary racket or boisterous 


DURING INFANCY 


125 


sounds are likely to destroy that tenuity of slumber that is most 
important to the infant. 

27. If possible the nursing or feeding of the baby should take 
place at a regular time daily with reference to its falling asleep.. 
Seven to eight o’clock is the best time for the night sleep to begin; 
and its feeding should occur about that hour. It may be delayed, 
if it cries, and can be diverted; otherwise let it have its way, rather 
than attempt too much regularity. 

28. Avoid using rags, sponges, or towels that have a sour 
smell. This odor is caused by fermentation, due to the presence 
of germs. Sore faces are often the result of using sour towels^ 
especially in hotels. The skin of the baby is even more delicate. 

The suggestions of this chapter relate chiefly to the 
care and training of the infant; by which is meant the first stage 
of life from birth to weaning, or taking other food than milk or 
preparation. The weaning question will be discussed in the next 
division of the book, entitled, Entering Childhood. In the chapter 
following this, the treatment of the baby is presented in connection 
with its maladies; and much that is valuable there may bear upon 
the rules stated herein. 








CHAPTER XVI. 


MALADIES OF INFANCY. 


C HILDREN have been safely carried through the entire 
term of infancy, without an hour’s or a minute’s illness, 
save the natural action of colic, which serves a purpose in 
the development of its internal machinery, and this but slightly. 
This success has been attained in the author’s family, and he is 
proud of it. Herein is proof of the fact that sickness is unnatural; 
that every malady is the penalty of some breach of the simple 
laws of living. 

But this does not console those who have made mistakes 
and are compelled to witness the results. A certain line of illness 
befalls infancy, and suggestions must be given in order to deal 
promptly with them. It is well known that the babe has about 
an even chance of living. The rate of mortality is much greater 
in infancy than at any other period of life. It does not take very 
much to end the tender existence. Its nerves are easily excited 
and convulsions ensue. It sometimes cries so violently as to end 
in the same result. Its stomach may get out of order on the least 
trifling with its diet. 

Accidents. Of all the numerous fatalities among infants, an 
altogether too large a proportion occurs from accidents. One child 
of six months hung itself by getting its head wedged in between 
the bed and its crib. Another burned to death from the snap of a 
crackling match. This kind of match is the cause of many 
.serious accidents, and its sale should be stopped by law. The 
ond of the match to be lighted goes off with a report, and throws 
part of its combustible matter to the floor, or out against curtains 
or clothing. We personally know of two houses being set on fire 
in this way, of an infant being fatally burned, and of clothing be¬ 
ing united by the flying spark. It is probable that fires, whose 
origin has been ascribed to other causes, may have been due to the 
same trouble. Such matches should never be lighted when in¬ 
fants are present, for the spark will fly ten feet, and burn where it 
falls. The means of ending life by accidents are so numerous that 
the only safe method is to keep constant watch over children. 

( 126 ) 




DURING INFANCY 


127 


Acid and Alkali. The young infant is devoid of saliva, and 
the balance between the two fluids cannot be preserved in the 
mouth where it is manifested when a few months have passed. 
In an adult the health of the blood and the tone of the digestive 
apparatus are dependent upon the almost even balance of acid and 
alkali. It is from their cross purposes that vitality is generated. 
The saliva is reputed to be alkaline, but one minute it may be 
slightly acid, and another slightly alkaline. If it is decidedly 
either, the system gets quickly out of order. Some persons are of 
an alkaline tendency, and crave some things ; some of an acid 
nature, and crave lime in some form or other. The saliva of the 
mouth turns quickly to acid about the teeth, causing rapid decay, 
for which reason magnesia, or milk of magnesia is a valuable 
remedy, and serves as food. 

Lime, magnesia, and similar alkaline matters are food. 
They are required by the body and appear in its composition. 
The young infant requires alkaloids or alkali, for its tendency is to 
-acid, which must be constantly corrected. Its mother’s milk is 
alkaline. Cow’s milk is slightly acid, just enough to overturn the 
stomach of the baby. When the mother who is nursing the child 
eats sour fruits, pickles, or similar acids, the infant is affected by 
i-t, as the milk of the breast is then turned to acid, though by a 
small change and to a slight degree, yet the child suffers. 

Curdling of the stomach or rejection of the milk is due to 
this acidity. It causes considerable distress and the pains of in¬ 
digestion. If the infant is nursing the mother should pay atten¬ 
tion to her diet. To best nurture her child she should herself 
take daily one fresh egg beaten in a glass of fresh milk; she should 
eat such foods as custards, rices, whole wheat breakfast food, whole 
wheat bread, barley soup, and other soups freely if home made, as 
well as carefully arranged foods for every day in the year, and for 
various conditions, as stated in Ralston Model Meals.* To know 
what to eat is half the battle of health. 

It has already been stated that lime and magnesia are 
part of the food required by the body intended to prevent acidity, 
which leads to a sour stomach. It is, however, true that too great 


* Ralston Model Meals, arranged for every day in the year, for sickness 
and health. Price, 50 cents. Address Ralston Healti Club, Washington, 


D. C. 



128 


CHILD LIFE 


a use of artificial lime that is not organized in some vegetable, as 
wheat or grains, will lead to a constantly increasing demand for it. 
Where the heart is weak the blood does not carry off the acidity 
fast enough, and lime has to be taken in such quantities as to 
destroy the lining of the stomach. In whole wheat this lime is 
found in a natural food state; that is, having organic life derived 
from its vegetating growth, and it benefits rather than hurts the 
stomach. 

Lime must be given to babies, especially when they are 
suffering from colic or acidity. The very best present preparation 
now in use is soda-mint, and although not on sale at country drug 
stores every pharmacist may compound it from the formula which 
he has in his book of formulas. A recommended substitute for 
perfect milk of the mother is the following : 

Four tablespoonfuls of cow’s cream. 

Two tablespoonfuls of cow’s milk. 

Four tablespoonfuls of lime water, which can be procured of 
any druggist. 

Enough sugar of milk to give the mixture the usual sweet 
taste, diluted in six tablespoonfuls of water. This may be obtained 
at any drug store. 

The foregoing is as near the same composition as human milk . 
and the quantity stated will feed the baby eight times, or for one 
day of twenty-four hours. 

Colic is most easily and most naturally overcome by giving 
soda-mint. It should be sweetened and given hot or cold as the 
baby seems to prefer. One teaspoonful of soda-mint in two of 
water with sugar, is the quantity for a very young child ; but as it 
gets older, say three months of age, the soda-mint may be increased. 
It is a food, and perfectly harmless ; a child could take all it would, 
with safety. 

Hot water often affords relief to the young infant. The 
stomach is generally put in good condition by a half glass of hot 
water, given with a spoon, or through a nipple-bottle. Pain in 
the intestines is often relieved by the diffusion of heat and cold, 
through the action of hot water. A costive condition; and, 
strange to say, a loose condition of the bowels is frequentty over¬ 
come by hot water, which seems to establish the happy medium. 

A sick child should at once be placed under the care of a 
physician. No experiments should be made when there is the 


DURING INFANCY 


129 


slightest doubt as to its condition. It is better to err on the 
side of over-anxiety, than to lose the little one through careless 
indifference. The nature of the illness may sometimes be deter¬ 
mined at once. Vomiting curds of milk, eructating gases, and 
writhing of the legs, when not attended by a high fever, indicate 
acidity or colic. Then a drink of cold water, a half glass of hot 
water, and the usual quantity of soda-mint, should be given. The 
cold water relieves the mouth, and is not generally swallowed ; the 
hot water relieves the intestines, and the soda-mint corrects the 
acidity. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, the baby will 
be well again in five minutes. Not long ago we saw a physician 
drug a child to sleep, who was tortured by thirst; and needed noth¬ 
ing but a drink of water to pacify it. When it had awakened out 
of the forced slumber, the physician was about to quiet its re¬ 
newed cries by another dose of the drug, when we offered it a 
little water to drink. Although it could not talk, the look it gave, 
the little shout of joy it uttered, and the happiness of disposition 
it exhibited, put to shame the so-called science of medicine.^ v 

Paregoric and sleep-producing drugs should never be given 
to babies; but the physician in charge must decide that matter,, 
and not the parents. We object to the use of medicines that in¬ 
variably inflict after injuries. To force a child to sleep is some¬ 
times a blessing and perhaps necessary; but in our experience, we 
prefer to avert the conditions that make the drug needed ; and we 
certainly have succeeded. The heart, the brain, and the nervous 
vitality are all weakened by sleep-making medicines. 

Excessive heat taxes a child’s strength. The daily bath 
is a relief. The sun and the hot rooms should be avoided. If the 
sleeping-chamber is in the upper part of the house, and the rooms 
below are available, even if used for parlors or otherwise, they 
should be taken in hot weather. We had knowledge recently of a 
baby, but a few months old, that had several times been put to 
sleep by drugs during its colicky period, and thereby weakened in 
vitality; later on succumbing to the heat, and dying as it breathed, 
in the very act of living. It closed its eyes as though it was too 
tired to keep up the struggle any longer; and its little life went 
out. This was due to the science of medicine, that had drugged 
it until its vitality was too far gone to sustain existence. 

As colic is the most frequent malady of the infant, 
every mother should learn to detect it at once. The knees are 


130 


CHILD LIFE 


•drawn up to the body, the front wall of the abdomen is hard and 
•full, there is no fever, but the hands and feet are cold; the latter 
sometimes getting very cold. The emission of gas from the stom- 
■ach affords relief, showing the nature of the trouble. 

Fever. Babies seem to get feverish quite easily. If not 
■attending some other trouble, it rarely occasions alarm, and quickly 
subsides. Fever in infancy is often an attempt to throw off waste 
matter through the pores; in which case a warin bath is beneficial. 

Hiccoughs. This little malady is one of the first to appear, 
along with yawning, in very young babes. Both are related. The 
yawn, or gape, is an automatic attempt to get a deep breath, when 
the air is not pure, or the action of respiration is weak, as from 
sleepiness or being tired. The hiccough is an erratic action of the 
same kind; the diaphragm, or breathing muscle, being irregular 
in its rhythm. This fault is easily acquired, and may be culti¬ 
vated by imitation. The attention upon it is the worst means of 
stopping it; and to suddenly draw the mind to some other matter 
is the natural method of cure. Occasionally the hiccoughs con¬ 
tinue for hours; and, in rare instances, cause death. A drink of 
•cold water, a smart blow on the legs; or, in dangerous cases, a 
plunge into very warm or very cool water, will overcome the mat¬ 
ter. When a child is old enough to be told to hold its breath, 
this remedy will steady the diaphragm and dismiss its erratic 
^action. 

Ordinary colds. A baby will endure a low temperature out 
of doors, or in doors, provided it is warmly dressed; but it is sen¬ 
sitive to drafts and exposure. The coldest and most impure air is 
nearest to the floor. Children are allowed to play there too much of 
xhe time. Two hours in the forenoon and tw r o hours in the after¬ 
noon will be ample, and probably an hour too much. A high 
«chair may be employed an hour in the forenoon, and an hour in the 
early evening. Avoid an open window, or a position at a doorw r ay, 
between two rooms. A baby catches cold if, in changing it, the 
bare flesh is left exposed. It should be handled quickly. Few 
mothers stop to think that the sensitive temperature of the infant 
is lowered in a few seconds; then coughs, colds, and fatalities fol¬ 
low. Sore throat, croup, whooping-cough and similar diseases, 
which will be referred to under the next division, Entering Child¬ 
hood , are all traceable to carelessness. The best means of thwart¬ 
ing disease is to see that it is not admitted to the system. 


DURING INFANCY 


131 


Sore mouth. All infants have thrush, or sore mouth, unless 
the strictest care is exercised to prevent it. The malady is due to 
germs, or bacteria, as has been proved with certainty. The tender 
surfaces of infant flesh are splendid fields of forage for the micro¬ 
scopic life that is always hungry. They will leave the lips of older 
people to feed upon the babe’s. Thrush is sure to follow nursing 
or feeding, unless the mouth is washed out two or three times a 
day; for the milk ferments from the activity of the germs, and 
millions of bacteria flourish; the malady proving fatal too many 
times. The wash is as follows: Dissolve a half teaspoonful of 
powder of boracic acid in a cup of water; and thoroughly rinse the 
mouth with it, applied on a soft cloth, twice a day. Also wash out 
the mouth with a wet cloth or sponge after each meal. Avoid sour¬ 
smelling sponges, towels or cloths. It is safest to scald them be¬ 
fore using. 

Disease from germs. The little extra trouble required to 
keep everything clean will fully repay the mother, in that a healthy 
baby is less care than a sick one. If bottles are used, they and all 
articles connected with them should be scalded by the hottest kind 
of hot water. 

Face rash, or a reddish breaking out around the mouth and 
lower face, generally indicates an affection of the blood, caused by 
the disagreement of the food. As young infants cannot digest 
starch, as in crackers or bread, a small piece of either will cause 
face rash. It is, however, due to any derangement of the blood. 
Poison about the mouth and lower face may produce a similar 
affection. Babies that crawl along the floor where the mouth may 
come in contact with the dust, or with articles that are dusty, 
may be afflicted in the same way. 

In the next division of this book, we shall discuss the more 
serious maladies that befall children; generally at an age past the 
first stages of infancy, and reference should be had to that part of 
the work. Two things in connection with the care of the little 
ones should always be kept in mind ; first, that maladies may be 
prevented; second, that the care required to prevent disease is less 
than the trouble necessary to cure it, to say nothing of the expense. 
Every child is a link in the endless chain of life. Parents can per¬ 
form no duty so satisfactory to the Creator as to watch over the 
babe’s existence, with constant self-denial and sacrifice, until it is 
emancipated from its condition of absolute helplessness. Despite 


132 


CHILD LIFE 


the handicap of heredity, an infant is closely moulded out of the 
heart of God, and loses its angel-nature only as it comes in contact 
with human influence ; and then it accurately reflects the disposi¬ 
tions that shape its early career. Surround it by sunshine, love, 
tender persuasion and the sweetest gentleness at all timesj and 
never allow yourself to believe that it is cross or annoying. For 
this patience there shall be ample reward. 





Fourth Grand Division 



Entering Childhood 



FOOD, TRAINING AND TREATMENT 
OF CHILDREN 


AFTER WEANING 







CHAPTER XVII. 


THE WEANING QUESTION. 


M OTHERS often misname the act which transfers the 
babe from nursing to a substitute for the milk of the 
breast. It is not weaning, properly speaking. We hear 
the remark, “I weaned my baby at three months.” In what 
way? “By feeding it from a bottle.” The food in the bottle is 
nothing more nor less than a substitute for the mother’s milk, and 
contains the same elements in the same proportions. This is the 
intent of the manufacturer of foods for unweaned infants. It does 
not, therefore, make any difference in the case, whether the 
elements of the natural milk are obtained direct from the mother, 
or from a bottle. The child is not weaned until it is able to leave 
that diet and partake of some of the food of grown folks. 

It is an anxious moment, and it should be, when the 
decision is made to wean the child—that is, to transfer it from the 
breast or bottle, to the regular food on which it must subsist. 
There are some very wholesome rules that should be kept in mind, 
and we will state them in this place. 

1. Commence to wean gradually. How this is done, will be 
explained further on in this chapter. 

2. Become familiar with the foods required by the child’s 
system—and the foods that most easily nourish it, and those that 
injure it. 

3. Select the proper time to begin the weaning process ; for it 
is a process. 

As the time is always first considered, though not the 
most important question, we will present the matter at this place. 
Weaning is an experiment, unless the child is in perfect health. 
An experiment should not be undertaken in hot weather, except 
under the most favorable circumstances, as the combination may 
prove disastrous. 

A child born in December, January or February may be 
weaned in the following November, December, January or Febru- 

( 134 ) 




ENTERING CHILDHOOD 


135 


ary; that is, the weaning may commence in any of the months 
mentioned. 

A child born in March, April or May, can be weaned in the 
following February, March, April, May or June. 

A child born in June or July, may be weaned in the following 
April, May or June. A child born in August, September, October 
or November, may be weaned in the following September, October, 
November or December. 

By this it will be seen that weaning may commence in eleven 
months, or be delayed until the fourteenth month ; but an August 
child should not be weaned until September, October, November 
or December, as eleven months would bring it in the hottest 
weather. 

If an infant is robust, an earlier rather than a later date is 
preferable; but, if weak and backward, it is well to wait a few 
months. A year, on an average, is usually the age of the child 
best suited for weaning. 

The next problem is that of the proper food to be given 
to a child at the age of twelve months. It has thus far lived on 
the mother’s milk, or on some substitute for that staple nutrition. 
Adults eat bread, meat, vegetables, fruits, and almost anything 
they desire; why cannot the baby do the same? In the first 
place, the food selected by older persons is not always, we might 
say is not generally, the best even for them; they are constant 
sufferers in stomach, nerves and blood disorders from their un¬ 
happy choice of eatables; and the infant system would soon be 
destroyed under such diet. In the second place, the child does 
not require, for its activity of mind and body, the heavy nature of 
sustenance that is needed by the older person. It is a mistake, 
therefore, to think that what is food for one, is food for another. 

Bread is the staff of life. When formerly made from 
the whole wheat into a beautiful light brown flour, it was far more 
delicious and wholesome than now; and young people, as well as 
adults, were in better health. Now the miller can sell white, 
sickly flour more readily than the good, old-fashioned light brown ; 
he strives to get it whiter and whiter, because the very whitest 
bread is most pleasing to the eye; and the fresh marble gravestone 
is no whiter than the bread eaten by tne dyspeptic who sleeps 
under it. This death-like whiteness of modern flour has sent 
many a victim to an untimely death. Let us see why. The white 


136 


CHILD LIFE 


part of wheat, or of any grain, is starch. The stomach cannot 
digest starch; therefore this part of food must either be specially 
disposed of, or else it will produce the most distressing results. 
It is overcome by saliva, except in a few cases of persons who are 
said to be utterly incapable of starch-digestion. It is also disposed 
of in the so-called second stomach. Safety, however, requires 
saliva-digestion, from the most thorough chewing of the bread. 
This is not possible when the latter is new, very starchy or gummy, 
as in rolls, biscuit or fresh bread. If it forms a dough in the 
mouth, it should be discarded at once. If it is not thoroughly 
chewed it will drop in lumps, or swallows, in the stomach, there 
to create dyspepsia, gastritis, catarrh of that organ, inflammation, 
or liver disease. The whole wheat, or light brown flour, aids the 
digestion of the starch, or extreme whiteness of bread; and in this 
combination, the eating of white bread (that is light-brown whole¬ 
wheat bread), is attended by better results. 

It requires saliva to digest starch, and all bread contains 
some starch. A very young babe has no saliva, and consequently 
bread in any form would produce serious derangement of its sys¬ 
tem. At the weaning age, say from ten to fourteen months, it has 
plenty of saliva, but is not able to digest new bread. This article 
of food should be one or two days old, not stale, but thoroughly 
seasoned. It should then be toasted to a very delicate brown, 
which destroys all germs; and food of every kind collects germs 
in a few hours. If the adult were to seek that diet which would 
most quickly restore tone and strength to the stomach, the one 
staple food should be whole-wheat bread, two or three days old, 
and toasted. It is the one ideal nutriment of nature. 

It is this ideal food that should be preferred in the wean¬ 
ing process. Let baby come in its high chair to the dining table j 
and, on the first of its new meals, let it have one little, piece of 
this toasted bread, soaked in a little cow’s milk, diluted in hot 
water. Wait until the second day thereafter and give it two pieces 
of bread, each about the size of a half inch cube, or little block. 
All the while it should be regularly nursed or' fed as before. The 
next day it may have one cube of bread for breakfast, two cubes 
for dinner, and none for supper. The next day give it one cube 
for breakfast, two for dinner, and one for supper. The next day, 
none. The following four days, let it eat this bread-and-milk diet 
three times, adding more bread ; then give it none for a day. 


ENTERING CHILDHOOD 


137 


Gradually lessen its nursing or regular feeding, though but slightly. 
In about four weeks it will eat heartily of bread and milk, three 
times daily ; and should be nursed or fed between meals, about 
midway the time, and once in the early half of the night, or at 
midnight. The child, or any person, in fact, could live and thrive 
on this bread-and-milk diet, as it is a complete nourishment, even 
for strong men. Whole wheat bread is like meat in its power of 
sustenance ; but milk is an aid to its digestion. Avoid new bread; 
avoid white bread ; it is, compared with the whole wheat bread, 
as sawdust compared to a rare beefsteak. 

When baby has taken kindly to its adult diet it will be 
less interested in the breast or bottle. You now have in one month 
substituted one standard food for another, and you are ready to 
let the child discard its nursing or earlier feeding. Before doing 
this the bread and milk should be reinforced, simply for the sake 
of variety. And what shall be next ? The step is one of growing 
importance. Remember, in the process of weaning children, that 
one new thing should be added at a time, not two or more, and 
that much variety at first is injurious. To go along slowly is far 
better. Remember, also, that if constipation is caused by food 
an increase of water daily helps to overcome the trouble. Ice- 
water, or cold water, does very well for young babies that do not 
swallow it, as they are relieved by cooling the mouth inflamed by 
coming teeth. When the child is old enough to swallow the drink 
must be studied. 

What to drink. As just stated in the close of the preceding 
paragraph there is a great difference between wetting the mouth 
with ice-water and swallowing it. No safer rule could be followed 
than never to allow the drinking child to have ice-water; by drink¬ 
ing child is meant one that swallows water directly. Cool, or 
rather cold, water is more healthful as a drink, but ice-water is 
better in case of inflamed mouth and gums. In fevers it is very 
beneficial to let the child have a lump of ice in the mouth, and 
swallowing a small bit is good for a fevered stomach, but otherwise 
it is dangerous. Some parents give tea, coffee and cocoa to young 
children to drink. Tea causes a weakening of the bladder, and 
brings on diseases of the organs that will produce a lifetime of 
misery; being a stimulant in one sense, and a nerve destroyer in 
another, it is grossly unnatural, and should be avoided until the 
child is past sixty, or old enough to be guided by sense rather 


138 


CHILD LIFE 


than taste. Coffee is neither a food nor a medicine, but a nerve 
excitant of the most violent kind. It stimulates for an hour, to 
be followed by a corresponding depression. Babes or children at 
any age that have been given coffee to drink are subject to heart 
disease by reason of the false energy it creates, and the alternating 
excitement and weakness it produces. A fond mother said : 1 ‘ This 
talk about coffee is nonsense. Here is my daughter, seventeen 
years of age, in perfect health, and I gave her coffee to drink when 
she was two years old.” The girl had heart disease, and the- 
mother did not know it, until a month later the daughter fell dead 
at her feet. There is not a coffee drinker on the face of the globe 
that is not a victim of some form of heart disease. 

Cold water is the standard drink for a child at any 
age. What is called Ralston Tea is also excellent, from the age 
of one year to fifteen or more. This imitation tea is very palata¬ 
ble to one whose taste has not been vitiated. It contains milk 
in a cooked form that is very easily assimilated. It should be 
diluted with water ; some preferring two-thirds water and one- 
third milk ; others half water and half milk. Ralston Tea is the 
nicest and most wholesome drink, except pure water, for a child, 
and indeed for an adult, and is made as follows: boil a quantity 
of fresh milk and place it hot on the table in a pitcher; and in 
another pitcher place a quantity of hot boiled water. In a tea¬ 
cup, drop in one or two pieces of loaf sugar, over which pour a 
little fresh cream. Now add hot milk from one pitcher and hot 
water from the other, both at the same time. As the hot water has 
lost its oxygen by boiling, a quick stirring or lifting and dropping 
the mixture into the cup, will restore a new water flavor. The 
drink is thus made delicious. It is sterilized and therefore safe. 
For children and adults it keeps the stomach in good tone, and 
corrects at once any bowel trouble; and, with cayenne pepper added, 
say the size of two peas to a cupful, it will cure diarroea; also ty¬ 
phoid in its earliest stages. The sugar absorbed by the hot milk 
is one of the greatest vitalizers known to the body, and loaf sugar is 
always pure. The cream is taken up by the hot water, and then 
acted upon by the milk and sugar, being put in condition to re¬ 
lease its nitrogen, or buttermilk, when in the stomach. If the 
milk and cream are fresh, the drink will be relished by any person. 
It is not a stimulant, but a strengthener. Pure sugar is a brain 
food, a nerve food and a muscle vitalizer, if absorbed into hot milk. 


ENTERING CHILDHOOD 


13& 


Ralston Bran Tea. We cannot let this opportunity pass 
without adding the receipt for making the most nourishing food 
that can enter the system in the form of a drink. A little knowl¬ 
edge is dangerous. Whole wheat is encased in a shell, called bran; 
this shell being the same to the wheat, that the shell is to the peanut, 
except that it is attached differently. No one thinks of eating pea¬ 
nut shells. Flour is made of the whole wheat, or part of it, includ¬ 
ing the bran; and this is called graham flour. It is neither palata¬ 
ble nor wholesome. The bran is indigestible. It irritates the 
lining of the intestines, sometimes doing considerable injury. Yet 
babes and infants have been compelled to eat graham bread on the 
theory that it is wholesome. Now it is quite difficult to make 
some people understand that bran, which is too rough to eat, is 
yet very valuable on account of the phosphate dust that clings to 
it. To get this dust free and use it in drink, seems to be accepting 
an offering extended by nature. Bran water was known as a great 
nourisher of the wearied body, before you were born. Somehow 
or other, athletes discovered its specially strengthening quality, be¬ 
fore books contained a line concerning it. 

It is prepared in the following manner : Take a quart of 
bran, and mix it with cold water, thoroughly stirring it. If there 
is any doubt as to the purity of the water, boil it; then, while hot, 
pour it from one pitcher to another six times, to enable it to ab¬ 
sorb the oxygen it has lost. This water, either warm or cold (but 
not hot), may be used for mixing with the bran. While bran 
from mills is not clean, it is as clean as the flour from mills, unless 
it has been very carelessly thrown about. There seems to be no 
difficulty in getting clean bran. A scum rises to the top, and 
should be thrown out. The water is now known as bran water ; 
if iced, sweetened and flavored with lemons, it is called Ralston 
Bran Lemonade, and is by far the most refreshing and wholesome 
of summer drinks. Its only objections are its extreme plainness 
and lack of expense. People generally believe that a thing, to be 
valuable, should cost much. Athletes do not strain the water; 
but, for a very fine drink, it should be drawn through muslin or 
cotton cloth ; otherwise it may be poured through a fine wire 
strainer. For Ralston Bran Tea, it should be treated as water ; 
boiled for immediate use, and taken in every respect as the water 
part of Ralston Tea, using half or one-third of hot milk, with 
cream and sugar as stated. The only difference is that hot bran 


140 


CHILD LIFE 


water is used in place of hot water. After a child is weaned from 
the breast or bottle, say at fourteen or fifteen months of age, it 
can be given Ralston Tea until it is fifteen years old. It will then 
not desire to give it up, but will continue to use it through life. 
Children so taken care of are sure to be healthier than any others, 
all things being equal. 

Hot foods and drinks. While an elderly person may 
take soups, broths, coffee, tea, milk, or other things, as hot as 
the leathery toughness of the stomach and passages will allow, 
the infant is seriously affected by a temperature above 100°. 
It is true that hot water, used as a medicine, and sucked from a 
bottle for colic, is beneficial; but, apart from its medicinal appli¬ 
cation, heat is to be avoided. Hot weather is the foe of children, 
for many reasons, as we shall see. The natural temperature of the 
infant is between 98° and 99°. The nursing bottle should be of 
this warmth. After weaning, the food and drink should never ex¬ 
ceed 100°. Drink can be tested by becoming familiar with the 
temperature of the body, which is, as we have stated, but slightly 
below 100°. Food may be cooler, but never warmer. Hot drinks, 
hot soups, and similar viands, are not for children, although they 
are all valuable in the uses we shall mention later on in this book. 

Rice and milk. This is the next step, but it should be 
taken carefully. We do not believe rice should be given until the 
baby is fourteen or fifteen months old, but if the breast or nursing 
bottle is completely discarded at twelve months rice and milk may 
follow then. Rice is valuable for children, aiding digestion, keep¬ 
ing the bowels regular, producing uniformly good sleep, and pre¬ 
venting nervous disorders, or tendencies to fits and convulsions. 
For adults it lacks strength-making qualities. The mode of pre¬ 
paring it for children is as follows : Take half a cup of rice, wash 
it thoroughly, and put it in a quart of boiling water, at the same 
time salting it to taste. Let it cook about twenty minutes or 
under. If the water boils partly away, add more boiling water. 
The rice is properly cooked when the grains are soft, yet not blended 
together in a mush. If they burst and make the water white they 
are not so good, therefore boiled rice should be taken off while the 
water is clear. The next step is important. After draining the 
water from the rice, partly dry it by stirring it lightly in a pan 
over the stove, but do not burn or scorch it. It is ready to serve. 
Dilute a little boiled milk with boiled water, about half and half, 


ENTERING CHILDHOOD 


141 


pour this hot over a dish of rice, on this then add a little fresh 
cream, and above all, especially on the rice, put some granulated 
sugar. The sugar should always go on last, as it is more palatable. 
Baby can now eat it with a spoon as soon as taught to so eat. 

At fifteen or sixteen months we will say that baby is now 
completely weaned, is eating five times a day, morning, noon, 
evening, and between meals once, and late in the evening once, and 
that its food consists of bread and milk, and boiled rice with milk. 
Its drink is cold water, milk, and Ralston Tea. It will thrive on 
these, and the diet will be perfectly safe. While many other 
things might be added, there is always an element of doubt and 
danger. It is better to be sure of the health and life of the little 
one, than to take every bit of fool advice that comes round in the 
shape of mothers who did so and so, and had no trouble whatever. 
They do not remember, or else choose to forget the trouble they 
had. The fact remains, unless sham funerals are being held all 
over t he country, that mortality among children is fearfully great; 
and, in our opinion, ninety per cent of them are due to the care¬ 
lessness of parents, or, perhaps, we should call it ignorance. The 
most dangerous factor in the care and training of children is the 
female who cites what somebody else did and the bad result, or 
what she did, and the good result. She tells what she fed her 
children upon, at what age everything was given; how she remem¬ 
bers this phenomenal history and a hundred more untruths, while 
she could not correctly recall the principal details of the most 
prominent event in her recent experience, nor even fix the time, 
without material aid, although it occurred within six months, yet 
she knows all about the food she gave her babe a long while before, 
because, u I’m its mother, you know, and if I don’t remember, who 
should?” Beware of comparisons, similar cases, what this one 
did and the other. Get knowledge of your own, and know that 
what you do is right. 

The period we are now in separates the child from its 
early nursing or feeding, and brings it to the table as a regular 
member of the family. It is fifteen or sixteen months old. Soon 
it will relish, though not require, a reinforcement in its eating ; as 
its list is not long enough yet to demand an index for means of 
reference. Toasted bread and milk may be called the first of its 
new foods ; and boiled rice and milk, the second. The third should 
be whole wheat mush and milk. The whole wheat should be 


142 


CHILD LIFE 


ground fine, as is done by the Robinson, Danforth Co., of St. Louis, 
Mo., then cooked thoroughly. In serving it, let it get down to a 
temperature of about 100°, then mound it up in a saucer; around 
it pour hot milk and water, mixed half and half; on the whole? 
put cream, then granulated sugar. It is now ready to eat -with ^ 
spoon. 

At this stage the child remains until it is two years of 
age; or, if it is unusually vigorous, until it is twenty months at 
least. To review, the feeding includes three articles, given in 
three periods of the second year; that is, from about the twelfth 
to the twenty-fourth month, as follows : 


12th month, 
13th month, 
14th month, 
15th month, 


Bread and milk, as per directions, with earlier 
feeding or nursing gradually lessened ; plenty 
of water to drink. 


16th month, 1 
17th month, ! 
18th month, 
19th month, 

7 j 


Bread and milk, and rice and milk ; adding, for 
drink, Ralston tea and plenty of water. 


20th month, 
21st month, 
22d month, 
23d month, 
24th month, 


Bread and milk ; rice and milk; whole wheat 
mush and milk. Drinks, water ; also Ralston 
tea ; and milk, if it agrees with the child. 


It may be said that this diet is too monotonous; even if so, 
it is safe, and the baby will thrive on it much better than on a 
more promiscuous feeding. But it is not, in fact, monotonous. 
It must be remembered that some mothers nurse their infants for 
two whole years, and, even then, cry when they must give them 
up to the tender uncertainties of a general diet. Some babies are 
fed for two years on prepared foods without the slightest varia¬ 
tion ; a sort of machine eating ; yet they thrive and grow vigor¬ 
ous, while others die. 

We pass to that next period of childhood which begins 
at the expiration of two years, and at this juncture the little one 
seems to take a leap forward. In leaving the present chapter we can¬ 
not too strongly urge upon the mother and the,father the necessity 
of reading and re-reading the division of the book that is applicable 





ENTERING CHILDHOOD 


143 


to the age of the child. Much is gained by review. Facts are 
stored away in the mind ready for use when needed, and they then 
come forth as if they were a part of a long acquired experience. 
Above all things do not add much to the diet. Meat may kill the 
baby ; fruit is more than likely to ; and potatoes, fried stuff, pas¬ 
try, and similar execrable concoctions should be avoided altogether, 
unless you wish to see the doctor and undertaker darken your 
-door. 








CHAPTER XVIII. 


FOOD AFTER TWO YEARS OF AGE. 


C AREFULLY recalling the diet prescribed in the preced¬ 
ing chapter, we find a basis on which to found the progress 
called for by the advancing age of the child. In addition 
to the three articles recommended, all of which may be continued 
as long as desired, the following are safe, nutritious and important: 

Cornstarch. This should be cooked according to the direc¬ 
tions on the package in which it is sold; but it should be eaten 
by putting on it milk, no longer diluted, cream and sugar. The 
child will like it very much. It may serve as a pudding with 
which to end the meal. 

Eggs. When properly cooked, eggs are beneficial; but when 
badly cooked they are injurious. The white, if boiled or fried 
until hard, is too much for an adult stomach, and should never be 
given to children. When the white is thoroughly heated, but not 
hard, as, for instance, when it is of the thickness of jelly, it is most 
valuable as food. This may be done by keeping the shell on, 
as for soft-boiled eggs, requiring about eight or ten minutes ; or 
it may be poached in two lyiinutes by breaking the egg in a saucer 
and letting it slip into the hot water, boiling hot, but not boiling, 
from which it can be taken whole. 

Egg toast is relished by children, if it is prepared as it should 
be. The proper way is to take bread one or two days old, toast it 
to a light brown, and cut it into little squares. Cook an egg in 
one of the two ways stated in the preceding paragraph, and let it 
be placed in a cup, into which the squares of bread are dropped. 
The child can then take them out, one at a time, with a spoon. If 
it does not relish this diet, it will be for the reason that the egg is 
not dressed and seasoned. It requires plenty of butter and salt. 

Scrambled eggs are very much appreciated when well pre¬ 
pared. Beat one egg with two tablespoonfuls of milk, in a pan 
first made hot over a medium fire, stirring as it is cooked, but do 
not let it be cooked hard. This may be prevented by taking the 
pan from the fire several times during the process. Do not give it 

( 144 )' 




ENTERING CHILDHOOD 


145 


to the child if there is whey or curd, as the food is not digestible. 
Never allow children, or any person except very hard working 
laborers, to eat fried eggs. Many a kindly disposed husband has 
been turned into an irritable dyspeptic by the ubiquitous fried 
egg. It would torture a baby. 

Potatoes. If you are of Irish descent, your child may par¬ 
take of baked potato at eighteen months ; otherwise it is better to 
wait until it is two years old. The best of all ways to cook a 
potato is, of course, to bake it; cook it thoroughly and have it dry 
and mealy. Look out for this. Served with milk and salt, or a 
little cream added to the milk, it is quite palatable to any person, 
old or young. 

Macaroni and vermicelli. These are prepared from wheat, 
and are wholesome for children; part of their composition being 
eggs. Boil either one or the other, in half milk and half water 
mixed in the kettle. Do not drop it in until the liquid is quite 
hot; and instantly add a little more boiling water to prevent it from 
ceasing to boil. If the mass is pasty it is not good. This is avoided 
by keeping the liquid boiling until the food is tender. It can be 
served with butter; or with cream and sugar. 

Fruits. We do not believe in giving fruits to children until' 
they are four or five years of age. The only thing to avoid is the- 
unopened cell of the fruit flesh. Very few apples, uncooked, are 
free from this closed cell trouble. Unripe fruit consists solely of an 
unlimited number, so to speak, of these little globules; partly ripe 
fruit has a large proportion of them; they are too minute to be 
studied with the naked eye; but each cell contains in its center, 
the flavor and beneficial juice of the fruit. Cooking sometimes 
opens these; and more often fails to do so. The difference between 
the taste of the fruit with the cells opened and unopened may be 
detected, by way of experiment, in eating plums. A few hours 
before they are ripe, their taste is repugnant; when they are mellow 
and dead ripe, their taste is delightful. The same is true of the 
gooseberry, cherry, and indeed of all fruits in greater or less degree. 
Nothing can be more dangerous in this line than an unripe apple, 
cherry, currant or gooseberry, although nearly mellow. The cells 
irritate the stomach to some extent; but, when they get into the 
intestines, the trouble deepens into a condition that may well 
cause alarm. The little globules imbed themselves into the inner 
surfacb of the canal, and there set up an abnormal inflammation, 


146 


CHILD LIFE 


sometimes turning bloody, and then black, ending in death. One 
hundred thousand deaths in America are every year recorded 
against the habit of careless fruit and vegetable eating. 

In the heated term of the summer the bowels are naturally 
languid and weak; and it is not advisable to introduce the use of 
iruits or vegetables at such time of the year. When a child is four or 
five years of age, tender, mellow apples, pears, plums, and peaches 
may be given, if the skin is removed; provided no decayed portion 
had to be removed, for when a part is spoiled, the whole is spoiled. 
-Grapes, seeded, may also be given. When fruit is cooked for 
children, it should not be green to start with. Avoid bananas. 

The vegetable question. Cucumbers are open to the ob¬ 
jection stated as to green fruit, and the dangers arising from their use 
are the same. These little green, worthless, unnutritious, indi¬ 
gestible barbaric treasures of the vegetable garden, slay their thou¬ 
sands every year; and their victims revel in the thought that it is 
sweet to die at the hands of so lovely a foe. Cabbage is dangerous 
for children. Tomatoes produce skin eruption in ydung and old 
alike; though in some less than others. A very small quantity may 
be assimilated. Green corn is open to the same objection as green 
fruit. The best of the vegetables for a child over two years are 
peas, beans, cauliflower when tender, beets, stewed parsnips, and 
soups in which these and others may be thoroughly cooked. 

The meat question. There is, in this and all civilized 
-countries, a rapidly-growing sentiment against the use of meat. 
The Ralston Club has presented in its books all the facts on both 
sides of the question; and cannot take the space to review them 
here. The summary of the matter, as shown beyond dispute, is 
this: the human stomach was made for meat eating in a minor 
proportion as compared with other food; cattle, lambs, fish, fowl 
and birds are undoubtedly created for man’s use; without the eat¬ 
ing of meat at critical times in the history of the human race, man 
could not have survived the vicissitudes of nature. When the 
Pilgrims landed, their ability to sustain themselves was doubted, 
•as previous colonies had disappeared entirely. Had it not been 
for the flesh of fish, bird and animals, they could not possibly have 
survived. Meat does, in fact, supply in ready form, the very 
urgent needs of the body. These are the arguments, or really the 
facts that are universally admitted in favor of meat-eating. 

On the other hand the vegetarians, or those who live on 


ENTERING CHILDHOOD 


147 


grains, fruits, nuts, vegetables, milk, eggs, and everything except 
actual flesh, claim many things in opposition; and the following 
are admitted as true: the suitability of the stomach for meat-eating 
is a design of the Creator to enable the race to survive against 
famine or inability to obtain grains and products of the non-animal 
kingdom; the use of meat is attended by high nervous tension; 
the cure of fits, convulsions, bad dreams, insomnia, sleep-walking 
and nervous derangement, has, when attempted in time, been ef¬ 
fected simply by withdrawing meat from the diet; the fibre of flesh 
is highly dangerous, as it may ferment before it leaves the stomach; 
in convalescence many persons have died by eating meat before the 
nervous strength has been re-established; sores, cancers, tumors, 
ulcers and similar troubles, are never found in the cases of those 
who avoid animal flesh for a term of years; greater strength can be 
developed from grains than from meat; gastritis, or stomach catarrh, 
now common, can be traced to the excess of meat eating, or of 
white flour dough, with an overwhelming majority of cases charge¬ 
able to meat; the irritability of children, adults, cats and dogs can 
be changed into a much pleasanter disposition by a prolonged 
change of diet from meat to non-flesh-foods; and the vicious habit 
of children leaving childhood, the sin of sins, is chargeable solely 
to meat eating. 

All veal is poisonous. In using it the only question an 
adult need discuss is, how much of the intestinal derangement can 
be safely weathered without serious results. There are some laws 
against the sale of veal, but the law needed is one that shall pre¬ 
vent its purchase, or provide that until the animal is one year old 
it shall not be used for food. All brine-salted meats are highly 
indigestible. Fresh pork is not good for children, for such food 
means a long spell of sickness sooner or later, as the flesh firmness 
of the child’s body is weakened and debilitated by pork, while the 
hog is not to be credited with producing healthful food in the form 
of flesh fibre ; he is yet valuable in his fat. Strange to say the fat 
of pork, especially of ham and bacon, is as much different from 
the lean or fibrous part as good fruit is different from decayed fruit. 
Some physicians regard this as a medicine. It is true that the fat 
of ham will furnish the system with an aid to the overthrow of 
neuralgia or starvation of the nerves, while the lean of ham will 
•cause neuralgia. This seems strange until the two are analyzed. 

If meat is to be used at all, beef, lamb, mutton, chicken 

* 


148 


CHILD LIFE 


and fish are preferable, although the last-named should not be 
given to children under six years of age. In cooking meat the 
same error is daily made that occurs in preparing eggs, the harden¬ 
ing of the albumen. The principle is a simple one. If soup is 
desired, or any form of stewed meat, the albumen should be released, 
not shut up in the meat. To release it the meat should be put 
into cold water, and not allowed to come to a boil until the juices 
are extracted, as cool or slowly-warming water will draw them out. 
Sudden heat shuts in the albumen. To drop meat into boiling 
water would result in a very thin and worthless stew. If the in¬ 
tention is to not lose the juices, as in roasting, broiling, frying, 
etc., the meat should come instantly in contact with great heat, 
which shuts up the surface by sudden coagulation of the outside 
albumen, thus holding in the valuable part. It is on this principle. 
that steak should be broiled. The best meat for children over five 
years of age is steak from a steer two or three years old, but this is 
not always nor easily obtainable. Many parents very wisely defer 
the giving of meat to children until they are of more advanced years. 

As all the value of meat is in the soup juice, called 
albumen, whether prepared for a child or adult, it would seem far 
more reasonable to withhold the fibre, which alone is the cause of 
all the diseases, sores, nervous disorders, and troubles chargeable 
to this diet. Many important experiments have been made with 
this fibre. Give soup, rich in the full elements -of flesh, to a cat 
or dog; and neither fits nor savagery will result. Give the meat 
itself, no matter how well cooked it may be, and the young cat 
will have convulsions, the old cat will become savage, and the dog 
will growl and snap his teeth at his dearest friend, beside becom¬ 
ing surly after awhile. These are familiar examples of the results 
obtained in more extended experiments. In dealing with the 
meat question, as applied to children, our advice is to give them 
soups, broths and stews, after they are four or five years of age; 
and let them have no meat fibre until they are fifteen; or, not the 
full flesh, before that age. Where the fibre is completely cooked 
into the broth, and is in a fine condition, it may be given after 
five } r ears. The longer meat is delayed the more the parents will 
congratulate themselves on the uniform health and kindly dis¬ 
position of the child. Savagery, irritability, ugliness, high temper, 
unstrung nerves, and moods of pleasure and moroseness, are the 
least of the evils traceable to meat fibre. 


ENTERING CHILDHOOD 


149 


We are not advocates of vegetarianism, for the following 
reasons : first, a majority of the followers of that doctrine believe 
that vegetarianism means the use of vegetables, as turnips, carrots, 
parsnips, beets, squash, pumpkin, and the whole list of the sum¬ 
mer garden ; not stopping to ascertain that the word includes all 
food that is not flesh of the animal kingdom; second, vege¬ 
tarians have not yet learned to substitute the food value of meat 
by grains of equal nutrition, and their violent change from a heavy 
diet to eliminators chills the blood and develops unpleasant feel¬ 
ings that, once experienced, will drive the thoughtful person back 
to meat; third, the use of meat is so well established that those 
who intend to discard it should first be taught the value of its 
substitutes, and the process whereby the change is to be made, 
namely, by lessening the quantity of meat fibre taken daily, in¬ 
creasing the soups, then ceasing to use the fibre, diminishing the 
soups, and all the time increasing the use of preferred grains. The 
fact is that the healthiest, the most nearly perfect, the brightest, 
the finest dispositioned, the strongest men, women and children 
are produced from those who eat grains, fruits and vegetables; 
and the meanest, sickliest and ugliest, from those who eat meat. 
Yet, on the whole, there is no good reason for discarding the 
moderate use of meat in its best and richest forms, soups, broths 
and stews. 

Sick children and pastry. If the strongest adult stom¬ 
ach in the world were to eat nothing but cake and pie for a day, it 
would collapse. While the injurious effects of such truck may be 
partially overcome by mingling with proper food, it is self-evident 
that their influence is for the bad. They are doubly hurtful; they 
not only do no good, but they counteract, to a fixed extent, the 
good that better food might do. Fond parents declare that their 
children can eat anything ; nothing ever hurts them ; but a tre¬ 
mendously overwhelming majority of the human race in civilized 
countries possess disordered stomachs, and they procured them 
somewhere and somehow. If, in the next political campaign, 
either of the great parties could secure the support of dyspeptics 
only, it would sweep the country by a landslide so far reaching 
and universal that only a stray inhabitant would be left here and 
there to represent the opposition. Yet parents tell us their chil¬ 
dren can eat anything, and some proud fathers believe their strap¬ 
ping sons capable of digesting shingle-nails, if occasion required. 


150 


CHILD LIFE 


The truth is, the stomach may go along for years before it 
rebels against indigestible food. It throws it off, staggers under 
the strain, impairs the nervous system to some extent, then re¬ 
sumes its course as best it can. Fried cakes, eaten in the morn¬ 
ing for breakfast, whether made of cornmeal, buckwheat, flour, 
or sawdust, are worthless and alike injurious. Children who 
eat them soon get pale, hollow-eyed, weak, and unable to keep up 
with their school duties ; the studies are so hard, it is said, in ex¬ 
planation. It can be safely set down as a rule that what is fried 
is not good for the stomach. 

Sweetmeats and sugars, in the form of food, are valu¬ 
able, especially for children ; but the puddings, sauces, and vari¬ 
eties stated in Ralston Model Meals, a book designed for all classes, 
and costing but fifty cents, furnishes a safe guide to one who seeks 
health as well as pleasure in eating. The book is so liberal that it 
provides certain of the least harmless of cakes and pastries for 
those who are in what is called perfect health, although it main¬ 
tains a strong middle ground. The author has been blamed, by 
about one woman in every State, for allowing Ralstonites to eat a 
piece of cake or a portion of pie ; but we still purpose to remain 
liberal, and provide receipts for making the least harmful of cakes, 
pies and puddings; as our conscience would be uneasy if we 
declared in positive terms that these delights were only designed 
for the victims they produce. 

Children should have custards in the form of cups, pies 
and puddings ; also rice custards, bread custards, and cracker cus¬ 
tards. They should have squash and pumpkin pies ; plain cake, 
without fruit in it, or icing on it; apple pie, apple dumplings, 
tarts and puddings ; grape tarts ; farina puddings, bread pud¬ 
dings, cracker plum puddings, and a line of healthful desserts. 
These, and their varieties, may well be omitted until the child is 
three, four or five years old ; and never given in abundance, nor 
as the principal course of the meal. To indulge a young person at 
the table is a mistake ; but it is well to explain the reason why a 
stomach overloaded with rich foods is not as desirable as plainness 
acquired in moderation. A child without an appetite is a discord 
in dietetics. Unless something is wrong, for which some one is to 
blame, the hunger of youth should have an elastic bound that 
rubber never possesses. 


CHAPTER XIX. 


MALADIES AND DISEASES. 


R EFERENCE to the chapter on the present subjects in 
the preceding division of this book, may be had for a con¬ 
sideration of ailments that are confined to the period of 
earliest infancy. There are, however, many troubles that occur ini 
the first year as well as in later years; and they will be discussed 
in these pages, together with others that occur later than the period 
of infancy, and not in that time. It must be remembered that 
certain principles are involved, and they may be clothed in simple 
language and used as guides. 

1. A physician should be called when there is the slightest 
doubt as to the seriousness of the ailment. No loving parent will 
consult expense or convenience under such circumstances. 

2. Medicines are not designed by nature for infants or chil¬ 
dren. Some remedies are foods. Soda-mint, milk of magnesia, 
and other means of relief are parts of the elements daily demanded 
by the body. 

3. Nearly every malady is due to some mistake or fault 
in diet. The sad part of it is the fact that the mistake could have 
been very easily avoided. 

4. The ailment is almost always located in the digestive tract. 
The commonest of infantile complaints is colic, or gas from imper¬ 
fect digestion of the food. It must be remembered that digestion 
is carried on in the mouth, in the large stomach, in the smaller 
stomach, and in the intestinal canal, clear to the outlet. In many 
cases of collapsed stomach, the nourishment that preserves life, is 
injected at this outlet. No wonder, then, that the digestion of 
food may cause trouble in its progress, and involve the bowels as 
well as stomach. 

Diarrhoea is one of the most frequent and most to be dreaded 
of ailments in childhood; and it is altogether without excuse. It 
represents a blunder in the food. The movements, which should 
be one in every twenty-four hours, are more frequent and of green¬ 
ish color. Castor oil is not a medicine, but a lubricant'; just as 

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152 


CHILD LIFE 


the wagoner oils the axle of his wheel. Sometimes constipation is 
the cause of diarrhoea; one the direct opposite of the other; in 
which case, castor oil is a remedy for both. The dose is less than 
a teaspoonful for a babe of three months, about a teaspoonful for 
six months, and more as the age is advanced. Many fancy things 
are advertised as a substitute, but children are not very unwilling 
to take the good old-fashioned castor oil, and it is the superior of 
anything in use to-day for the purpose. A very natural cure is to 
omit feeding, until the trouble has passed. Hot water taken in¬ 
ternally ; or hot milk and water, half and half, to which very little 
cayenne pepper has been added, is beneficial. But a physician 
should be consulted if the case seems at all serious. When the 
inflammation extends to the large intestine, the malady is called 
dysentery, and requires more attention; although the nature of 
the trouble is the same. 

Constipation is the opposite of diarrhoea, and often the cause 
of it. It, too, is the result of an error in feeding, and the most 
natural cure is to omit eating until the trouble disappears. The 
proper kind of diet, however, will overcome the worst cases. In 
very young children, it is an excellent plan to rub down the sides 
and back, on either side of the spinal column, and slantwise 
around to the front. Keep this up for ten minutes at a time, five 
or six times each half day, or until the relief is obtained. The 
rubbing should be continually varied by pushing in or gently 
kneading the abdomen and soft parts. While this remedy is 
effectual it is tedious, requiring time and labor. Castor oil is the 
best of laxatives, in its original or modified forms. 

Colic and other infantile disturbances have been con¬ 
sidered in the preceding division of this book. 

Colds. A child should not catch cold as easily as an adult; 
and to do so is evidence of a reverse of vitality. Very young 
babies are left uncovered by careless mothers and nurses, and are 
quickly chilled, owing to the sensitiveness of their blood. They 
sneeze frequently, but colds rarely follow. A high temperature in 
winter weakens the blood. A child thrives best at a temperature 
of 72 to 76 degrees, and should, even at this range, be kept out of 
drafts. Properly speaking, a draft is a current of air passing from 
cold to warm or warm to cold. At an open window, if the out-door 
air is colder than that indoors, there will be an exchange of cur¬ 
rents causing a draft; or, if one room is cooler than another, the 


ENTERING CHILDHOOD 


153 


same result will follow. It is necessary to keep away from the 
window or door under these circumstances. A frequent cause of 
colds is due to opening of a door to ventilate an overheated room 
and remaining in the current thus engendered. A child that 
stands or creeps much on the floor should have the feet and lower 
limbs warmly clad. Exposure of the soles, or wearing very thin 
shoes and apparel, should be avoided. 

Children must be hardened in a very gradual process, and 
accustomed to cold air, not in drafty currents. Carrying them 
out in the cold, or about in cold rooms, with windows open, if 
they are properly clothed and kept moving, is beneficial. As a 
hot room weakens the vitality, so a cold room, in which there are 
not drafts, will strengthen it. Good ventilation, day and night, 
prepares the blood to resist colds. When the trouble is in the 
head, generally at the nose, a little vaseline rubbed on that mem¬ 
ber, and within the nostrils by aid of a fine brush, the same as is 
used for water-color painting, will prove beneficial. 

How colds arise. Two things are necessary to a cold, both 
in children and in adults : first, a weakened vitality ; second, ex¬ 
posure. If the vitality is weak, there will be no difficulty to find 
the exposure. If the vitality is strong, a great deal of exposure will 
not result in catching cold ; hence some persons, in spite of great 
care, take cold easily, while others, under the most careless methods, 
take none at all. In children the vitality is weakened in three 
ways : 

1. By excessive heat. 

2. By lack of ventilation. 

3. By impure air. 

4. By the strain of digesting improper foods. 

We have discussed the last. Excessive heat appears in the 
hot spells of summer, and in rooms that are too warm in cold 
weather. Lack of ventilation is due to laziness, or an indifference 
to the need of a steady inlet of fresh air. Some persons refuse to 
allow pure air in a sleeping room on account of its low temperature, 
but coldness is preferable to poison, besides being invigorating. 
Impure air is due to gross stupidity. Some mothers are perfectly 
willing to leave vapors, odors, old clothes, bad-smelling bedding, 
and exposed impurities in the same room where the child must 
constantly live, until the skin pales, the eyes dim, sores break out, 
and the blood is impoverished. From such a condition all the 


154 


CHILD LIFE 


diseases in the calendar of childhood could easily run their gamut, 
and the bereaved but stupid parent would charge it to the unknow¬ 
able ways of the Creator. The fact is that disease and death in 
childhood are cruel visitations whose admission may always and 
ever be avoided. It is not necessary that a child should ever be 
sick. It is in the power of the parent to prevent it. It is not so 
easy to cure. Ralstonism has for years preached the doctrine of 
prevention, for cures are uncertain. 

Coughs, croup and whooping. The death list is full and 
swollen with the unnecessary victims of these maladies. Talk 
about prevention is worse than useless when the trouble is full on 
and must be checked, yet prevention is far better than the struggle 
to effect a cure, and prevention may be had by applying the advice 
given in the preceding paragraphs. How about a cure ? If the 
ailment is croup or whooping-cough send for a doctor. Croup is 
either spasmodic or membranous, if it is membranous the nature 
of its progress is about the same as diphtheria, and it may well be 
regarded as dangerous. If the child has spasms, coughing in a 
hoarse tone, awaking in the night with difficult breathing, and 
shows a marked degree of suffering, it is the lighter form of croup, 
and alarms the attendants without cause. Still this should not be 
neglected. Hot water taken from a nursing bottle is good as an 
internal application, and flannels dipped in hot water placed about 
the throat, followed by a warm bath, will prove a sufficient out¬ 
ward treatment in ordinary cases. When the disease is membran¬ 
ous the result may be fatal, as it denotes the presence of germs. 
See diphtheria. 

Diphtheria. This is the most dreaded of all maladies that 
may befall childhood. It is due to a weakened vitality, accom¬ 
panied by dampness as a foundation; on which the disease itself 
is prepared to build whenever it happens along. In other words, 
a strong vitality will defy the infection. It is contagious, imme¬ 
diately depending upon the bacilli, known as diphtheria-dews, 
caught from other children by those who inhale through the open 
mouth. The germs lodge in the throat, commence to build a colony 
by living upon the membrane and the substance of food and saliva, 
and soon have an immense nation of offspring, so numerous that 
they build an additional membrane for an extended home. It is 
this so-called false membrane that fills the throat and chokes the 
child to death; but it is supposed that the germs emit a poison that 


ENTERING CHILDHOOD 


155 


travels all through the blood. A physician should be called at 
once, and the case placed in his charge. The author has seen 
several cases of diphtheria checked by the free use of vaseline outside 
the throat; oiling the inside of the mouth, clear to the back, with 
vaseline; and applying kerosene oil on a camel’s-hair brush, to the 
throat as far within as possible. In one case the child was at the 
door of death; the doctor, a skilful man, said there was no hope; 
and, with no graver consequences to be feared, a fatal dose of kerosene 
oil, a tablespoonful, ‘was given the child. This violent fluid cut 
loose the choking membrane, and it was thrown out with the fatal 
dose. The child survived and is living to-day, much to the sur¬ 
prise of the physicians. All attempts of this kind, however, are 
experimental; and the judgment of the attending doctor is the 
safest to follow. If professional aid could not be easily procured, 
it is valuable to remember that kerosene oil may, in very small 
quantities, be applied to the membrane; also hot vaseline mixed 
with red pepper. These agencies are enemies of the disease-germs. 

As the life of the child involves so great happiness and 
comfort for the parent, we have no hesitation in saying that father, 
mother and nurse should become members of the Ralston Health 
Club, and teach the children what to do to protect themselves from 
contagion. Young as they are, they can quickly be made to under¬ 
stand the simple laws of nature; and, when they mingle with other 
children, running the risk of catching some infection, they can be 
taught as thousands of little Ralstonites are to-day being taught in 
public schools, to so protect themselves as to escape danger. 





o 







CHAPTER XX. 


TEETHING AND THE TEETH. 

T WENTY teeth comprise the first set, known as the milk 
teeth. There are ten in the upper jaw, and ten in the 
lower. The number is increased in the second set. The 
coming of the teeth, and particularly the appearance of the first 
one of all, is an occasion of great moment in the family; the 
excitement of which is enhanced if the baby is the first-born. 
Second and third babies are never so wonderful as the original 
arrival; although all should be welcomed and idolized. 

When will the first tooth appear? This is asked a 
hundred times. Experienced mothers, who have forgotten dates, 
tell all about it, stating the period as anywhere from three months 
to a year; and their predictions never come true. There are four 
central teeth to cut their way through the gums; two in the upper 
jaw; two in the lower; and exactly in the centre or front of the 
mouth. The time when they will appear depends upon the 
vitality of the tooth-substance, and the use the infant has made of 
the gums by chewing and biting on hard substances. Soft rubber 
is not so good as a big silver dollar. The harder the thing to be 
bitten on, the better will be the teeth. 

In four months one of the lower middle teeth may come 
through, closely followed by the other; but the time may be as 
late as seven, eight or even ten months. If no teeth have appeared 
at the end of a year something is wrong, and a doctor should 
attend to the matter. But your baby will have its two middle 
lower teeth in less than eight months. Then comes a long wait, 
generally of three or four months, before the two lower teeth are 
large and strong enough to assist the two upper ones, directly over¬ 
head, to cut their way through. If at eight or twelve months, 
these four front teeth are through, it is very good. Let the baby 
have something hard to bite on, but not anything that can get in 
its throat to choke it. By all means, if the mouth is inflamed let 
it have the coldest ice-water to relieve the pain and lessen the heat, 
and this should be given it every ten minutes during waking 
hours. It does not swallow the water, so no harm is done to the 
stomach. 


( 156 ) 




ENTERING CHILDHOOD 


157 


Signs of coming teeth are the following: the gum deep¬ 
ens to a dark or inflamed red sometime before the tooth will 
appear; then a few days before it cuts its way through, the gums 
waste away and shrink, owing to the fact that they are absorbed 
by the tooth. When this appears the point or corner of the tooth 
is sure to come through in less than forty-eight hours; so there 
need be no surprise. The baby seems to favor the spot with its 
tongue, and in its biting on objects. There are now four teeth 
through ; two upper, and two lower; sixteen yet remain. 

In eight or ten weeks after the upper front teeth are 
through, the next lot of four will begin to work their way to the 
surface; and there should be eight teeth when baby is a year old. 
The second four are distributed as follows : two lower teeth ; one 
on each side of the two that first appeared; and two upper above 
them; making four upper front teeth, and four lower front; or 
eight out of the necessary twenty. In some children all eight are 
through at ten months; but one month later is the average time 
for these. 

The next teeth come in fours; but not adjacent to the eight 
that have already appeared. They take a jump, leaving one space 
open on each side of the upper and lower four. The new comers 
are called the first double teeth, or molars; or to be more exact, 
anterior molars. Baby is generally a year old before they show 
signs of coming through, and it may be a few months longer. 
There are now twelve out of the twenty; four middle upper teeth; 
four middle lower teeth; and four double teeth near the front, but 
separated by one space from them; making six above and six 
below. 

When baby is sixteen to nineteen months old, these four 
spaces will fill. The average time is eighteen months. The two 
upper teeth are called eye-teeth; the two lower are known as 
stomach-teeth. The back double teeth, at the ends of the upper 
and lower rows complete the twenty; but they are a long time 
coming. If they are through at two years, the child is doing well. 
They are broad, with corners; and the corners appear first, lead¬ 
ing the observer to think that more than one tooth in each place 
is coming through. There will be only twenty. These are called 
the first set, or milk teeth ; by some the deciduous teeth, because 
they fall out after awhile to give way to the second for perma¬ 
nent set. 


158 


CHILD LIFE 


Teething is a period of anxiety for the parents, as it is 
attended with fever, inflammation of the gums, wakefulness and 
crying on the part of the little one. The suffering is greatly re¬ 
duced, and rendered almost nothing by the following precautions : 

1. Proper diet. 

2. Hard substances to bite on; harder than rubber. 

3. Ice-water very often administered for the mouth only. 

4. Sunshine and fresh air in winter. 

5. Coolness, free from dampness, in summer. 

6. Mouth-washing three times a day with boracic acid powder, 
a half teaspoonful dissolved in a cup of water, and applied with a 
soft cloth. This is very necessary, as it prevents thrush, sores in 
the mouth or ulceration, to increase the misery of the child. If 
ulcers have actually appeared they may be destroyed by borax 
powder mixed into a paste with glycerine, and some of it put on 
the ulcerated spots with the point of a stick. 

Rash often attends the period of teething, but is probably 
due to a slight disorder in the stomach in some cases, and to pro¬ 
miscuous kissing, or dust-poison in others. The creeping child 
drags its hands in the dust of the floor or carpet, and puts them to 
its mouth frequently. There is no remedy for rash, as it comes 
and goes quite easily, but when due to poison from kissing or dust, 
the boracic acid water may be applied outside the mouth as well 
as within. Difficult teething sometimes occurs by reason of the 
fact that the gums refuse to yield to the pressure of the teeth, and 
they are sometimes lanced to lessen the suffering of the child. 
This is proper, but should be done by order of the physician. 

The permanent teeth are more numerous than the first, 
consisting of thirty-two, or sixteen in each jaw. Except in a few 
rare instances they never begin to appear until the child is five or 
six years old, and nearer the latter time generally. They come as 
additions to the former set, the earliest arrivals being from extra 
molars at the end of the rows of milk teeth. Thus, when a child 
has twenty-four teeth in the two rows, twenty are milk teeth, and 
four are permanent, being three or four years apart in their ages. 
As they are the teeth that, it is hoped, will endure until the owner 
has lived for the alloted period of three-score years and ten, great 
care should be exercised from the start in preserving them. Pru¬ 
dent parents will take the child to a dentist to have the straightness 
and position ascertained. 


ENTERING CHILDHOOD 


159 


The next of the permanent teeth are the middle incisors. 
They get their stock from the milk-teeth, which they absorb, or as 
much as is under the gum, and the discarded teeth hang so loosely 
that the fingers may be used to pull them out. Once in awhile we 
hear of a child swallowing a tooth. To prevent this an occasional 
examination should be made, so that they may be extracted in 
time. The middle incisors appear in from six to twelve months 
■after the four extra molars are through. After this there is a wait 
until the child is about nine years old, perhaps less, when side in¬ 
cisors follow, making eight in this class, which, added to the four 
molars, comprise twelve of the permanent teeth. The incisors, or 
nutters, if they come as they should, will appear in front of the 
upper milk teeth, and within or behind the lower milk teeth. 

Eight double cutters, or bicuspids, will come when the 
child is ten years old, or about that age. There is no exact time 
for each tooth to appear. The double cutters have two points 
oach, whence they derive their name, bicuspids. At the age of 
twelve, the two lower cuspids push their way out; and two or 
threfe years later, they will be followed by the two upper ones. 
These are followed by the second molars, or the last of the sup¬ 
posed regular teeth ; but the third molars appear at their pleasure, 
generally during the years that follow the age of discretion, for 
which reason they are termed the wisdom teeth. Some have 
them as young as sixteen or seventeen; others have one or two 
under the age; others late in life, and some never cut their wis¬ 
dom teeth. 

The first set should be so well taken care of that the dentist 
may never be called upon to make the third set. It is at the be¬ 
ginning that the mother’s duties commence. She should use a 
soft brush two or three times a day for the child ; then teach it to 
do the same, and see that it obeys. The proper time is after eat¬ 
ing, so that the food may be dislodged, and a thread passed be¬ 
tween the teeth may be necessary. Such care will save pains and 
visits to the dentist’s chair. It is a mistake to use tooth powders, 
as, if they are worth using, they cut into the enamel, and prepare 
the way for numerous cavities. Cool water, soft preferred, and 
distilled still better, should be used with a fine brush. If a tooth 
will not come out easily a dentist should be consulted, as no tooth 
must be removed too soon, owing to the after-contraction of the 
.gum (and hindrance to the one that follows. 


CHAPTER XXI. 


BRINGING UP A CHILD. 


D ISCUSSIONS concerning training are so numerous and 
so voluminous that it is hard to tell what course to pursue. 
A few simple laws of child-life and human nature may 
serve as a daily guide to the parent and attendant. The latter 
should not only be known, but should also be subjected to the test 
of observation unawares, in order to be correctly judged. She 
may be vicious when alone with the child, yet when the parent is 
about shejnay be as smiling and chirpy as a June robin, leading 
to the impression that the services of an angel have been secured. 
The temper and crooked disposition of the child are often charged 
to heredity, when they are nothing more than natural reflections 
of the person whose temper sways that of the child. 

Some things have been stated on the methods of deal¬ 
ing with infants, under the head of infancy. We now suppose the 
baby to be more than a year, old, passing on from twelve-month to 
twelve-month, becoming more active and the object of greater 
anxiety as it progresses. It is an associate rather than a care; but 
life to it is a school, in which the mother is the natural teacher. 
If both parents are living, they owe it some of their time. The 
father ought to have more than a passing acquaintance with his 
offspring; some men are so busy losing the money they are trying 
to make that they are strangers to their little ones. A daily romp 
and play, filled with kindly interest and loving care over the multi¬ 
precious life, should render father and child confidential friends. 
It will make the busy parent a better business man, a clearer 
headed financier, a more steady worker, and a far more ambitious 
toiler, if the faces of home loves are before him in his struggles 
toward success. Above all other duties, above church and nation, 
are the purity, the sweetness, the happiness of true home life. 
The husband who loves his wife and proves it, the wife who loves 
her husband and proves it, the parents who love their children, 
the children who love their parents, and make home the one cen¬ 
tral spot of the universe, to which all else is, in this life, of lesser 

( 160 ) 




ENTERING CHILDHOOD 


161 


importance, may rest assured that there is no other way so abso¬ 
lutely certain of achieving the rewards of immortality as unswerv¬ 
ing loyalty to such love and such home. Nor can life be a failure 
to any man, woman, or child, who remains steadfastly true to 
these duties. If the question were asked, what one purpose above 
all others, what one goal beyond all others, may be considered the 
highest attainment of life in this world, the answer must be the 
establishing of a true home, and its preservation, through calm 
and storm, until death releases the victor. He who does this, 
may die in the noblest of faiths ; for he has obeyed the immaculate 
law of his existence. Church and religion are to make home-life 
better and purer; and home-life, thus purified, is the direct and 
last stepping-stone to heaven. Some persons are continually 
worrying about their soul’s salvation; but one thing may be set 
down as an inexorable law, surmounting all creeds and faiths, 
that husbands, wives, parents and children, who are true to the 
obligations of their relationship, can do no wrong sufficient to bar 
them from eternal happiness. 

Centering in this domain called home, is the light of life 
around which the day and night revolve,—the child. It is not 
the property of those who give it origin and birth; but merely a 
casket left in their care, from which a jewel will, in the fulness of 
time, be taken and returned to God. Here the responsibility is 
seen to be great. Heredity is always an influence in development; 
but the real man and woman are trained and made in childhood; 
and this training may override the good or bad tendencies handed 
down from generations preceding. Education, refinement, culture, 
affection, loyalty, patriotism, clean habits and religion, may be so 
firmly established by inspiration in early years, that all the evil 
of the conjoined saloon, gambling den and press cannot shake the 
character thus rooted. It is generally too late to begin when child¬ 
hood is far advanced. The most opportune time is in the earliest 
days of the growing mind. 

The first training of childhood should relate to the dis¬ 
position. This is soon seen to be generous or selfish, peevish or 
forbearing, bright or dull, cross or genial, smooth or thorny, hum¬ 
ble or self-willed, silly or sensible. Of these the most important 
subjects for training are those that affect the tendency to be ill- 
natured or self-willed. In the start it is a mistake to believe that 
an evil spirit, or stubborn devil, has possession of the child, or, to 


102 


CHILD LIFE 


put it more mildly, that the little one is naturally ill-tempered. 
What it is has been developed by those in charge of it. If the 
parents are criminals, the child will be a criminal in spite of all 
training to the contrary, for here the influence is from abnormal 
.-sources. No offspring can come from such origin and remain on 
the normal side of humanity. Training is of little or no use, as 
has been proved by experience in every case, where the real facts 
have been obtained. 

Assuming that the child is within the realm of normal 
moral conditions, the rule is very clear that love, and not severity, 
is to be the master spirit of training. Rigidity and straight lines 
serve only to irritate and oppose a disposition that must soon lose 
much of its sweetness in resenting a course of opposition. The 
don’t do this, the don’t do that, the fretful tones and snappy words, 
are sure to come back in a ratio of increase that will dismay the 
thoughtless parent ere many months. It is, as a matter of fact, 
just as easy to exercise caution and self-restraint; but, if it were 
not, the gain that would come from the practice of self-control 
would pay large returns as interest. In managing children, the 
parent should register a vow never to speak a harsh word, nor 
utter a cross tone to the little one, no matter how well deserved. 

Spare the rod and spoil the child is the doctrine of crimi¬ 
nals. If your child is of such parentage, you know it; and the 
fear of punishment, backed by its application, will serve to deter, 
but cannot destroy, the criminal nature possessed by the blameless 
sinner. For such a class, are jails made; and they serve to hold 
in check the evil that is boiling to burst forth. If your child is 
not a criminal by birth, punishment and severity should never be 
applied in the sense of chastisement. A spirit once broken is like 
a faded leaf; it is not the same it once was. A blow dealt a child 
should be recorded upon the walls where it might be read every 
hour of the day. Not far from where these lines are written, the 
screams of a little boy can be heard, and the sounds of the falling 
stick are clearly defined upon the air. It is the humble home of 
a toiler; and the wife is punishing the child for falling off the back 
steps. This morning she whipped him for getting scratched by 
the cat. Yesterday he was beaten by the mother for burning his 
left hand in a kettle of hot water that had been placed upon the 
hearth. He is yet screaming, and it will be an hour before his 
bewildered soul understands that the torture of the punishment 


ENTERING CHILDHOOD 


103 


was associated with the accident whereby he was precipitated upon 
the top of his head on a rock at the foot of the back steps. The 
cruel mother is a nervous, ill-tempered female, unfit to have charge 
even of Turkish infants. 

On the other hand, the following example is a pleasant 
contrast to the spirit of malicious revenge that characterizes the 
methods of inhumane parents. A busy mother, fretted by an 
abundance of cares, was annoyed to see her child constantly going 
to a hot stove, where it was likely to pull over on its head a pan of 
hot liquid, by catching at the handle of the dish. She could not 
put the child out of the room, as her work required her to be in 
the kitchen, and the child must be where she was. Each time it 
went to the stove, the mother diverted its attention, got it away, 
and explained why it should not go there. After six repetitions 
the child desisted. In a few months it was obedient to the wishes 
of its mother, in whom it had learned to place full confidence. 
This method implies that children are blameless in their errors, 
and weak in the expression of a humanity which, at its best, is far 
from perfect. 

If the child is spoiled it is ever afterward a nuisance, is the 
opinion of those who have been afflicted by the unguided antics of 
boys and girls. They do not see a middle-ground between oppos¬ 
ing the child and letting it have its own way. We agree that it 
may he spoiled if its inclinations are allowed to grow like a vine, 
into a mesh of tangle-wood. We knew a boy who became uncon¬ 
trollable in temper, solely because his disposition was never drawn 
into proper channels; and, before he was twenty-two, he was hung 
for murder. There is no doubt at all that his mother was respon¬ 
sible for his fate. Constant opposition seeks to hold in check the 
impulses that are more energetic than compressed steam. When 
opposition fails to accomplish its purpose, the parents give up the 
task as hopeless. The impulses, then, are either left to run wild, 
in which case the child is spoiled, because it is untrained; or, else, 
the impulses are choked back by opposition, in which case the 
parents are continually nagging, scolding and fretting at the of¬ 
fender. It is the lack of judgment that does not seek the middle- 
ground, which is to take the impulses as found, and draw them 
into new channels. When the child seeks to go where it should 
not, lead it into a direction and to an object that is proper; instead 
of shutting it off entirely, or permitting it to have its way. In 


164 


CHILD LIFE 


other words, substitute one thing for another; a good for a bad; a 
proper for an improper. In this one law may be found the cure 
of the very tendencies that cause so much vexation. 

A parent that deceives a child must, sooner or later, 
answer for it in the judgment of the little one. To threaten it with 
something that does not occur, or to tell it of dangers that are soon 
known to not exist, will react very quickly. The child knows 
much more than you think. It absorbs meanings by instinct, and 
although it has the faculty of looking blankly into space, with an 
abstracted expression of countenance, its little head catches and 
stores away ideas that are scarcely given passing attention by those 
who are older. It is best to be honest with your child, and never 
let it catch you in a falsehood. 

Keep up a kindly interest in all it does. This furnishes 
it with ambition and busies it with employment that may spare 
the parent many an hour. A cold reception, a chilling remark, an 
indifferent air may fall like an iceberg on the warmly palpitating 
heart of the little world of love that pleads for a moment of your 
time. Encourage it to be sensible. Do not laugh at its silly 
doings and sayings, or it will multiply them in order to gain your 
applause. With good sense in your own head, you will plant a 
share of the parent stock in the mind of the young imitator. 
Above, all, be gentle and persuasive, forbearing and of endless 
patience. These are duties, and the cheerful performance of them 
will redound greatly to your credit. 



Fifth Grand Division 



Leaving Childhood 



THE THRESHOLD OF MANHOOD 
AND WOMANHOOD 








CHAPTEK XXII. 


THE HALO OF YOUTH. 


S WEETEST among the days that dwell in the vistas of 
our memory, are those golden eras that rise like hilltops 
outlined against the blue of heaven along the farthest 
horizon of life. Like the traveler who looks ahead, and scarcely 
sees the land through which he passes until he turns to note the 
beauty of its view, so men and women come out of youth un¬ 
touched by the rich colorings of its exquisite morning glow. 
There is, in that brief span between the time when baby’s eyes 
first catch a glimpse of wonderland, and that sadder day, when 
the child, full grown, goes forth from home to seek new ways in 
life, a realm of myriad fascinations that rise on wings of memory, 
expanding as the years advance. The first tear is shed at the 
threshold of this realm, as the mother’s lip quivers with a throb of 
joy; the last falls heavily down her furrowed cheek when the child 
announces that youth is ended, receives the parting kiss and 
ventures out into a broader and less happy realm. Her heart was 
large enough to hold the treasure safe; and love had barred the 
doors; but time will force the lock, and from the casket the great 
world steals the priceless jewel. 

Years come and go; the pendulum of eternal change swings 
noiselessly through all seasons; the springs are summers in the 
younger life; the autumns, winters at the broken hearth; until the 
white-haired mother, tired of earth, unclasps her husband’s hand, 
and gently falls to sleep, knowing that he will soon lie at her side 
beneath the grassy mound. Their daughter, or their son, coming 
to mourn their fate inevitable, will think of these dead parents 
as they lived, not in later years, but far back in earliest memories 
when care and love built daily castles round their youth. The 
curtain rises from before the enchanted realm; and there they 
are again; the home of infancy restored ; the playthings animate 
once more ; the air ringing with laughter; the house aglow with 
sunshine; the merry frolics; rides and walks; the holidays and 
presents; songs and fairy tales; the morning and the evening 

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LEAVING CHILDHOOD 


167 


kisses; the prayers breathed like incense from their pure young 
hearts; the story of the Christ told at mother’s knee; and all the 
hallowed, happy, blessed hours of youth, with never a sorrow that 
had not a rainbow stamped upon its cloud. They start from this 
reverie, to find it but a dream; the mother who tenderly nursed 
them, is sleeping in the silent city of the dead; the father wlm 
frolicked with them, has run his race and now reposes in the lap 
of earth. 

Memory is fickle at most times, but her keen vision may 
leap the longest years and take us back even to earliest infancy. 
There are some who can recall vivid incidents close to the dawn of 
life ; some who, striving to renew the earliest impressions of their 
parents, are surprised to learn the distance they travel backward 
in this endeavor. There are children who, at the age of five, have 
repeated many transactions occurring in the first year of life, and 
this repetition has served to fix the memory of them all through 
maturity. The tremendous value of mental culture in this direc¬ 
tion should be fully understood. Let a child at two years be 
encouraged to recall all it can remember of the first year, repeat 
this at three years; then at four, five, and so on; and the result 
will be a brain of perfect clearness. It is not an experiment, but 
a lesson, and an important one in its early training. 

Parents often make the mistake of supposing that the 
child knows no more than it is able to express understandingly to 
others. This is far from being the fact. Infants are conscious to 
a degree that is hardly appreciated by old persons. They are fresh 
from the brain of the mother, with whose mental impressions they 
have been conversant. They come into the world fully possessed 
of a soul, a faculty which by day and by night, in sickness and 
health, in unconsciousness and death, is ever alert in human life, 
resting not when the body rests, sleeping not when it sleeps, and 
dying not with its death. This soul has its mind, which is cogni¬ 
zant of all that transpires, but has no means of speaking through 
the senses. In addition to this power the brain of the child is ex¬ 
ceedingly active; it understands, by a method exclusively its own, 
much that is said in older language than is used in addressing it. 
The parent who has never tested this power of the child-mind has 
much to learn, while it does not comprehend through the senses, it 
interprets and discloses its knowledge in other ways just as distinct. 
Much is gained if the father or mother will take it for granted that 


108 


CHILD LIFE 


the child, however young, has some degree of consciousness of all 
that is said or done. Children, especially when in the first year 
of life, read the faces of people with wonderful accuracy. It is 
more than instinct, it is more than intuition ; there can be no 
doubt that it is thought transference. 

The training of children should be based upon the belief 
that the mind of the parent, as far as intention is concerned, stands 
out like an open book before the infant; and this belief should 
prevail until the boy or girl has grown to the latest years of 
childhood. The honest face has a greater controlling power over 
the child, than all the diplomacy of skilful management. It is a 
serious mistake to deceive the little one; and, very soon indeed, 
it reacts heavily against the parent. Even the threat of a whip¬ 
ping, if unfulfilled, weakens the threatener, and renders the method 
futile in the future. The child cannot argue, and does not under¬ 
stand reasoning; but it can feel and know the fact sought to be 
impressed, although its consciousness cannot be led through a 
chain of thoughts intended to prove a position. Simplicity, there¬ 
fore, has great influence over its mind. Of all the plans devised 
to train it, the confiding, honest, simple, straightforward course is 
the best. In the third year, it understands why a thing is good 
or not good; and explanations then have more weight than sharp 
denials. It may take a little time to tell a child the wherefore of 
each permission or refusal; but it saves time in the end. 

The wisest parents adopt the method of letting it into 
a certain kind of confidence; so that its reasoning faculties may 
be more rapidly developed. It is not good for the mind of the 
child to leave it in doubt as to every act that restrains its conduct. 
Thus, a mother is constantly checking the impetuous boy and the 
inquisitive girl; they must not lean out of the window; must 
keep away from the head of the stairs ; must not handle the glass; 
should avoid the pond; should not go to the stove; must not 
play with matches; and a thousand interdictions from early morn 
until the weary evening. It is the rule of human nature among 
the little folk, that what is denied is worth, having. A flat refusal 
tempts the imagination. Matches look like innocent sticks, even 
when they make the light; yet they must not play with them. 
Why not? They will certainly capture the prize in some un¬ 
guarded moment. Yet, when a mother takes the trouble to ex¬ 
plain that matches make fire, that fire burns and hurts, the child 


LEAVING CHILDHOOD 


109 


will never touch them, if it has faith in the parent. Once deceived, 
it doubts even the truth. We have seen a little girl, who persisted 
in going to the head of the stairs in spite of all protests, abandon 
the idea when told that she would fall down to the floor below and 
hurt herself very much. Had she been previously told things that 
she found to be untrue, however, the explanation might have done 
no good. 

Some children regard their parents as machines designed 
to correct, care for, and feed them. When they do wrong they are 
either punished, or else thwarted with but little understanding of 
why they must suffer for obeying the impulses of their nature. 
They soon come to regard their parents as enemies in all that con¬ 
cerns them in their play. This is quite wrong. All life must play 
in its infancy and youth, or the body will not develop. It is not 
so much human wish as it is animal instinct. The savage cub of 
the lion, the tiger, the bear, the wild-cat, or the leopard, plays as 
delightfully and as gracefully as the tame kitten, or the big-headed 
pup, and for affectionate gentleness none is second to the little tot 
who frolics at our knee. Play is important, and playthings are 
the tools of youth. The boy must be favored by such of these as 
most harmonize with his nature ; the girl by what she most readily 
appreciates. There is no time when children are too old for play¬ 
things; even when their hair is snowy white they still cling to them 
like rays of sunshine. And they are right. It is when growth is 
progressive ; when impulses run high ; when health has an affirm¬ 
ative vigor that the love of play is paramount, and it is not only 
hurtful but even dangerous to suppress it. If you wish to see 
happily endowed and healthy boys and girls, give them all the play¬ 
things they can use in as great variety as possible, and encourage 
them to play as much as they like. They will be better men and 
women for it. 

Parents should play freely with their children. The 

law of the renewal of youth in such associations is a fixed one; and 
is well understood at the present day. Young people grow and 
thrive from a w r ell-spring of impulse. The exuberance of which 
appears in play that is infectious. Older people gain much from 
a close sympathy with the little folks. The youngest of those who 
are far advanced in years, have caught this spirit of renewed youth 
by becoming playmates of the happy children. We think there is 
no age in the life of a son or daughter when the parents should 


170 


CHILD LIFE 


not associate with them, and be so understood, rather than to lord 
it over them like teachers or masters. 

Children advised with are most easily controlled. A cer¬ 
tain confidence is inspiring to them; and it need not be a pretence. 
To accomplish so desirable an end, the same principle of associa¬ 
tion as is seen in play, is also found necessary in the serious de¬ 
partment of child life. It seems to lie at the foundation of the 
relation between parent and offspring. We do not believe in pun¬ 
ishment at any age; that is, not in the use of force or the infliction 
of physical pain. It is brutal at its best. If you have brought 
into the world a being that is deficient in moral nature, the fault is 
yours, for the inheritance of the viciousness is from you; and the 
best thing you can do is to extract it by love, not torture it out. If 
love is impotent, then treat the child as an unfortunate and irre¬ 
sponsible being, to be cared for, not whipped. This is an age when 
peace should reign in all human hearts, and the tenderest affection 
should surmount passion and temper. When you think your 
child needs punishment, defer the matter for awhile until the 
heat of your impetuosity has died out; and if you think with Solo¬ 
mon that to spare the rod is to spoil the child, remember that 
Solomon was so defective morally that, were he living to-day, he 
would be wearing cropped hair in a modern penitentiary, in atone¬ 
ment of the sins recorded against him in the Bible. 

Sunshine should be poured into the child’s young heart 
in great floods. We all have our evil nature and our good nature. 
The former should disappear under the influence of the little life 
placed accidently in our keeping. It is wrong for parents to scold 
at the boy or girl, simply because the little ones are annoying. It 
will not do to say they know better. It does seem as if they ought 
to know better, judged by the standard of maturer minds ; but the 
latter are defective at their best, and it is no more than simple fair¬ 
ness to give the inexperienced child the benefit of a larger doubt. 
So do not fret and scold because they vex you. As good a piece 
of advice as can be given a mother is to go to the piano, strike 
middle C, tune the voice to it; then resolve never to speak to a 
child when annoyed or fretted in a note higher than middle C. 
It will help the little one to love you; for of all harsh, sharp and 
shrill voices, the worst and most distressing is that of a scolding 
woman who scrapes out her saw-edge tones like the scratching of a 
nail on a pane of glass that sets the teeth on edge. Never scold 


LEAVING CHILDHOOD 


171 


others in the presence of your children. Never quarrel or say un¬ 
kind things in their hearing. Sweetness of temper and a sunshiny 
disposition pay a large interest. 

There are three distinct periods of child life; the first 
begins with birth and ends with weaning, and is generally a year 
long ; the second begins with weaning and ends with the opening 
of school days ; the third extends from the end of the second to 
the age of puberty, or that time when the* boy or girl is endowed 
with the power of parentage. The first two of these periods have 
received attention in the preceding chapters of this work ; the third 
and last is now under consideration. The remarks thus far made 
in this chapter are applicable to all three of the periods. 

National virtues are taught at the mother’s knee. 

This is the 20th Ralston Principle. In its true scope it in¬ 
volves not only such virtues as are national, but such others as are 
local and personal. After a child is old enough to enter upon a 
course of schooling, which may be at five or six years of age, if 
the public or regular schools are to be attended; or younger under 
other circumstances; its mind becomes intensely impressionable. 
At such time the parents, and especially the mother, will have 
great power over the future inclinations of its young mind. Were 
all mothers to agree upon a policy that shall sweep the continent a 
generation hence, they may accomplish whatever they choose in 
such direction. There are two kinds of men in the composition of 
a nation ; one will vote for party regardless of the principles in¬ 
volved ; the other will vote for principles regardless of the party 
involved. The man who wishes to see his special crowd win is 
not a true citizen in any sense of the word. He is a coward at 
heart, and a wish wash thinker on public affairs. He has no prin¬ 
ciples but victory and boasting. The other man is the desirable 
voter, for he carries in his soul the germ that bears the fruit of 
national progress ; a steadfast devotion to an honest principle. 

The man who has knelt by his mother’s side and imbibed 
into his heart the wishes of her soul during the little years of his 
boyhood, is never lost sight of in after life. The thoughts then 
breathed like prayers from one mind to another become ingrafted 
so "deeply that they are part of the man, and grow with him. 
Time is important; for, when the boy or girl goes out into the 




172 


CHILD LIFE 


broader world than home has been, the earliest impressions may 
be for evil; and they cannot then be offset so easily by the parent. 
Playmates have thousands of ideas; old as well as young; and 
the child listens to the boy of ten or fifteen as readily as to the in¬ 
fant. The mother should take time for the moral education of her 
young. Sunday should not be crowded against this opportunity. 
Let all else go. Remember the 206tli Ralston Principle, which 
says that every person should have a church • in the same sense 
that every person should have a home. The boy or girl, the man 
or woman who has no home for the physical body, is to be pitied, 
and more so, if there be no church that can be regarded as a home 
for the spiritual body. You, yourself, may have been denied the 
sweet influences of a mother’s heart to lead you to this better 
judgment; but, whether you are in or out of the church, do not 
deem it a matter of indifference as far as a child is concerned. If 
you ask what denomination, the answer need be this : choose any 
sect that, in your honest belief, will teach the personal account¬ 
ability of each individual to God. 

There are other themes of lasting importance that, if 
taught in earliest childhood, are sure to sway the whole after life of 
the man or woman. Silence on any subject is sure to leave the 
mind a prey to outside influences; but an affirmative opinion or 
wish, many times repeated in the early years, if expressed before 
other minds have reached the child, may accomplish almost any¬ 
thing desired. Thus, if the mother takes no positive stand either 
way on the subject of drunkenness, some stranger to the family 
may create an impression either way, or the matter may remain 
neutral for many years. On the other hand, the mother may so 
fix the opinion of the boy or girl that nothing can change it. Some 
believe in beer and wine; never having learned that beer drinkers 
die of kidney disease, and wine drinkers are diabetics; and certain 
mothers religiously teach the doctrine that a mild evil is a preven¬ 
tion of a serious evil; while, on the other side of the question, there 
are mothers who are sufficiently educated to know that fermenta¬ 
tion in any form, whether in beer, wine or liquor, consists of dead 
carcasses of minute germs in which are imbedded the living bac¬ 
teria that turn food into poison. They know that whiskey, as well 
as beer, is made out of healthful and wholesome grains; and they are 
not deceived by the argument that because grains are healthful, 
whiskey and beer must be good. These mothers know that when 


LEAVING CHILDHOOD 


173 


grains have been eaten and digested by germs, as they must be or 
they will not ferment, the offal, called beer and liquor, is in just 
the same relation to the grains that the contents of a Dutchman’s 
stomach would be two hours after he had eaten a full meal. The 
questions of chewing tobacco, or smoking cigarettes and cigars, 
may be settled in this way. The morphine habit has recently taken 
a rapid stride forward, and the opium habit is likewise on the in¬ 
crease. These, once formed, can never be shaken off. They mean 
a miserable existence and an early death. They are habits, how¬ 
ever, of great power; and they create the appetite on which they 
thrive. This fact is known to cigarette makers. The present age 
is a money-making era. Great corporations are not selling cigarettes, 
either for their own amusement or for the health of their customers. 
If the use of morphine or opium will create an irresistible longing 
for the articles that contain it, there are no corporations in this 
country so conscientious as to refuse to take advantage of the trick, 
especially if it will double their profits every year. Attention of 
the public has been called to this adulteration, several times re¬ 
cently by physicians, chemists and government officials. The 
mother may properly and effectively warn her children against this 
and other dangers, if she begins at an early period. 

The yearnings of childhood are the most intense in all 
life, and some of them are more deeply rooted than we think. 
They should be encouraged sufficiently to be clearly understood 
by parent and child alike ; then, if they are wrong or doubtful in 
character, counter impressions may be created in order to eliminate 
them. Children brought up to respect their parents and to appre¬ 
ciate goodness, are rarely ever inclined to evil yearnings. It is 
not wise to so train a child that it expects to find its father or 
mother a constant check-valve on its young aspirations. The 
greatest men and women have caught glimpses of their mature 
achievements in the ambitions of their earliest years. Had these 
yearnings been suppressed, the whole after life would have been 
different. There is a nicety of accord between the wish of impetu¬ 
osity and its suitability to the best interests of the child. 


CHAPTER XXIII. 


REGIME OF CHILDHOOD. 


R EGULARITY and regime are not the same. The words 
are often confounded. Regime is a method of living that 
requires attention to a complete line of conduct. Thus, 
regularity in eating is one thing; and attention to what is eaten, 
why it is eaten, when it is eaten, and the combinations of food 
values in each meal, is regime. The same may be said of exercise. 
To indulge in it every day, and even regularly, is not the same as 
regime; unless the kind of exercise, its relation to the demands of 
the body, the arrangement of movements in sets and series, and a 
proper balance of one kind with another, claim the attention. It 
is sometimes true that regularity is detrimental to the health of 
the body. Modern life is not so constituted that we can rise, 
eat, retire, and perform like a machine. Nothing in nature is 
regular; neither the da^s, weeks, months nor seasons. If the 
moon were on trial, her erratic conduct would subject her to the 
charge of inebriety; and the jury would convict her without 
leaving their seats. A person trained by habit to rise, eat and 
live with exactness, would get sick as soon as necessity occasioned 
a variation from the usual run of the machinery. 

There are some things in which children should be taught 
regularity. One involves the action of the system, which should 
occur once or twice a day ; if once, then in the morning soon after 
breakfast; if twice, then after the evening meal. This should be 
taught as the foundation principle of the religion of health ; and 
the gravest importance should be placed upon its observance. In 
personal habits it is necessary that no omission should occur for 
any reason. In such a matter as the cleaning of the teeth, the 
majority of men and women who place a value on good teeth, feel 
a resentment against their parents for not insisting on care and 
regularity of cleansing in early youth. The mouth should be rinsed 
out on arising in the morning ; for, after a night of sleep, the de¬ 
posits of saliva have formed a coating around the teeth. This is 
detrimental to the health of these important aids to mastication, 
do guard against its greater accumulation, it is important to rub 

( 174 ) 




LEAVING CHILDHOOD 


175 


the teeth lightly with a soft brush just before retiring. Many times 
sleeplessness has been cured by the adoption of this little habit. 
There is a reason for it. Let us examine it. 

The month and tongue are indicators of the health of 
every person and animal, and should be studied to ascertain the 
fluctuations of condition, just as one studies the barometer to learn 
the approaching changes of the weather. The fluids of the body 
are in perfect balance when the health is good ; one is alkali, the 
other acid ; let either predominate and disorder prevails. It will 
appear in the taste of the mouth, in the acidulous feeling about 
the teeth, and in the furring on the tongue. The animal electric¬ 
ity, which is made every minute, is dependent upon the action 
of the acid and alkali on each other ; when one is in abundance, 
the nerves are disordered. It is on this principle that sleep is dis¬ 
turbed by the acid condition of the mouth, producing a taste that 
affects the ability to sleep when one is sensitive to nervous influ¬ 
ences. Cold water and a brush, rinsing the mouth thoroughly and 
cleaning the teeth, will in a large percentage of cases remove the 
acidity. The matter that clings to the crevices between the teeth 
and close to the gum is an irritant. It ferments and turns to acid, 
eating into the enamel and preparing the way for a trip to the 
dentist. Children overindulge in sweets, which turn to acid in 
the mouth, and set the teeth to aching. Fruits will accomplish 
the same thing. We have known the sufferers to go to dentists, 
who pronounced the teeth perfectly sound, and could do nothing 
for them. The saliva, which in magnetic repose should be 
slightly alkaline, had become acid, thus keeping up an irritation 
against the teeth. Ordinary cooking soda is an alkali; some of 
it dissolved in hot water and held in the mouth will quickly cure 
the toothache when it comes from the cause stated. A half-teaspoon - 
ful to a half-glass of water is sufficient. Sound teeth have been 
pulled for no other reason than that they ached from acids, and 
such loss is irreparable. 

The tongue of the child should receive some attention. It 
tells a pretty straight story of order or disorder in the functions 
of the body. When all is well, it is a natural red, clear and 
bright. When the tongue is coated, an examination should be 
made of the feet to see if they are cold, and if so, it is a very safe 
prediction to say that the diet has been bad enough to set up a 
seriOus disorder which will soon be manifest. If, however, the 


176 


CHILD LIFE 


feet are warm, the head cool, and the system free from pain, a 
coated tongue denotes nothing more than a lack of balance between 
the acids and alkalies of the body. Intestinal trouble shows itself 
in a furred tongue over which a whitish curd is scattered. If the 
tongue is very dry ahd red, there is inflammation of the mouth, 
throat or stomach. A vivid red along the edges of the tongue indi¬ 
cates serious inflammation of the stomach. If the coating is green¬ 
ish, the liver is at fault. If it is brown, there is typhoid at work. 
The most alarming of all symptoms is when the sides of the tongue 
are covered with a very thick white coating. 

Ralstonism seeks to prevent sickness and disease; and 
one of its principles embodies this idea. Some maladies do their 
damage so quickly that there is not time enough to apply a remedy. 
The fatal diphtheria is the most dreaded of all. While a cure is 
possible and probable, if the disease is properly and promptly 
treated, a prevention is always a certainty; and it is much better to 
not have the evil than to have it and escape from it or with it. 
The causes of diphtheria are many. The chief and most frequent 
cause is the dust of floors and carpets. Wherever you may see 
corners unswept, or places under beds, dressing cases or tables 
where the dust lies in a little cloud, there you have the diphtheria 
germ. It lies dormant until dampness gives it life. Another fruit¬ 
ful cause of this malady is the sewer gas that forces its way back 
into the house from the pipes in the street. It is just as safe to 
live in a morgue as to remain in a house where sewer gas is escap¬ 
ing. The germs of diphtheria, of sore throat, bronchitis, catarrh 
and similar disorders arise from this source. In the city of Balti¬ 
more, where the sewers are on the surface of the ground, disease of 
the eyes is prevalent; and more people wear glasses there than in 
any other city, in proportion to the number. It is the occulist’s 
paradise. A damp or bad smelling cellar will breed diphtheria; 
so will dirt, poor ventilation, and contact with those who are 
already infected. Children should be taught 'to inhale through 
the nose; in which case they cannot acquire the disease from any 
source. 

Many maladies of children are allied to diphtheria; and 
the same principles, the same regime should prevail, although the 
cases are in fact quite distinct. On every complaint of illness, the 
throat should be examined ; if sore, a physician should be called; 
for this is the most dreaded, the most deceptive and treacherous of 


LEAVING CHILDHOOD 


177 


all diseases. In tonsilitis, which is often mistaken for this, the 
tonsils are affected with yellowish-white spots which are easily 
removed; but in diphtheria there are patches of membrane on the 
tonsils, adhering closely. Quiet or true croup is of much the same 
nature as the latter malady; and is dangerous. There is so much 
to be done, and so many things to know about these dreaded dis¬ 
eases that neglect to call in a physician at the first moment of 
alarm would be culpable. Nearly all contagions are preventible 
by adherence to the rules of cleanliness, diet and respiration. 
Until one of these requirements is ignored, it will he difficult to 
infect a child. 

Next to the throat maladies are those that trouble the 
intestines. Of these the worst of all is typhoid. It is due to a 
germ found in drinking water; and sometimes in figs, dates, un¬ 
cooked raisins, dried currants, citron, and similar things. Ninety- 
nine per cent of typhoid may be traced to impure water; of which 
ninety per cent is from wells, and the rest from lake or pond sup¬ 
ply. Water should be boiled, in cases of doubt; heating it to the 
boiling point destroys the germs of disease, though it may not 
remove other poisons. If there can be safe protection from the 
dangers of these two classes of sickness, it may be set down as 
certain that the same conditions that shut out these larger evils 
will preclude all others. It is natural to be well; it is unnatural 
to be ill. The laws of life are so simple and so easily understood, 
that when sickness comes some one is to blame. 

Variety of muscular exercise should be made a part of 
every child’s daily life. Avoid gymnasium and similar practice. 
The athlete has no part in an advanced civilization. Exercise is 
not only valuable, but important; if neglected, disease is sure to 
follow. We believe in a large amount of muscular practice; but 
to develop the muscles to a high degree is to sap the lungs and 
overtax the heart, from one or both of which the youth is sure to 
hear before he has reached the meridian of life. Excessive strength 
is not worth a cent a ton in this age. The vitality it takes from 
the nervous system impoverishes the brain ; and there is no case 
on record of an athlete prominent in both mental and muscular 
circles. All persons should seek Ralstonism, become adepts in 
Ralston culture, and thus perfect the muscular system without 
danger to the vitality of the organs needed in other departments of 
the body. 


CHAPTER XXIY. 


FOOD FOR CHILDREN. 


S TRONG children have the reputation of being able to 
eat and to digest anything. This is easily shown to be un¬ 
true by giving them cake, pastry, fried food of any kind, 
and hard apples, or any fruit not mellow, as a diet three times a 
day. Once the digestive apparatus is out of order, it will not 
resume its normal tone until the effects of the offense have been 
entirely purged away. Undeveloped fruit and vegetable cells have 
an attraction for children; and yet they are as impossible of diges¬ 
tion as nails. The little globules of a hard apple, for instance, 
find lodgment in the structure of the intestines, and there set up a 
persistant and vicious irritation, producing diarrhoea, and possibly 
death. Before they will consent to depart, they must decay, fer¬ 
ment and generate a poison. From these unripe cells of fruit come 
^chronic troubles, often resulting in organic disease. Yet fruits are 
not only among the most wholesome of foods, but they are neces¬ 
sary to perfect health. They should be mellow, as well as ripe; 
.and not mellow enough to have started toward decay. A hard, 
ripe apple is dangerous to a child; a mellow, ripe one is a blessing; 
a green one may cause death. 

The best fruits for children are ripe, soft-cored blackber¬ 
ries, the year round. Never can green ones. They may be had 
for weeks in the summer time, fresh from the bush. At other 
.seasons they should be had in the form of preserves or canned 
berries. Next to these are Concord grapes; but children should 
not swallow the seeds or pulp. Every family should be loaded 
down with grape preserves, not too sweet, the year round. Apples 
and apple-sauce ought to have daily recognition at the table. Next 
come all those grand California fruits, fresh or canned. We know 
vthe canned to be as wholesome as the fresh, and exceedingly health¬ 
ful. Ralstonism finds the native fruits of America far better than 
the imported; and has been the cause of keeping over a million 
•dollars a year in this country that used to be spent abroad for for¬ 
eign fruits. 


( 178 ) 




LEAVING CHILDHOOD 


179 


If children are to be kept in perfect health, they should 
he fed properly. The greatest enemy of the physical race is the 
woman who says, “ I let my children eat anything they want; 
and I am sure you never saw healthier boys and girls.” In the 
first place, the test of a healthy body is its condition at the age 
when growth stops; for then the extra impulse of life settles down 
to its normal. Here is the language of one of these mothers: ‘ ‘ Some 
people are notional enough to say cake and piecrust hurt children. 
Look at my daughter. She had all the cakes and pies she wanted; 
and she never saw a sick day till she was seventeen. Neighbors 
said she was a very healthy looking girl.” We looked at her at 
seventeen. She was thin, sallow, with bilious eyes, drawn mus¬ 
cles, pinched mouth, dirty-hued eyes, diseased scalp, and foul 
breath. Three years later she died. It requires years for the 
ignorance of mothers to destroy the buoyant health which nature 
seeks to give to the child; and it is never safe to say: “I gave my 
children so and so. ’ ’ Since these last pages were written, a woman 
declares: “My mother fed meat to all her children before they 
were eighteen months old; and it never hurt them.” We inter¬ 
viewed these 11 children, ’ J now all grown up, excepting three who 
died of organic diseases; and we found five surviving. They all 
look as if they could establish a hospital, or organize a graveyard. 
If these five “healthy children” were to sit simultaneously on the 
piazza of a hotel for an hour, the management would be forced 
into bankruptcy. Since attaining their years of mature youth, 
they have spent many thousands of dollars for doctors and medi¬ 
cines. 

It is a positive pity that parents are found who really be¬ 
lieve that, because a child loves cake and pie, there is no harm in 
eating such food. This is not an age of relish. That theory has 
been exploded as far as it relates to candy, sugar, jellies, rich 
sauces, pies, cakes, fruit-puddings, and a hundred concoctions of 
glorious sleep disturbers, all relished and craved by the rising gen¬ 
eration. You can kill a young animal very quickly by letting it 
have what it wants, and all it wants to eat. A child left to choose 
what it most relishes would be dead in two weeks. We propose 
to enter a protest against the use of such foods as we know to be 
most detrimental to the health of children, and having done this, 
we propose to follow the matter year by year until some good has 
been accomplished. 


180 


CHILD LIFE 


THE GRAVEYARD DIET. 

Pancakes. These are the worst things that a child can put in 
its stomach under the pretence of food. They are made of white 
flour, whole wheat flour, corn meal, buckwheat, and certain other 
ingredients closely resembling saw-dust. Food-stuffs that may be 
wholesome when properly cooked, are made sickening by being fried 
in butter or grease, coated with fat-flakes which are always indigesti¬ 
ble, and then served with butter, sugar, syrup, or all three. You 
may take the healthiest grain that ever ripened under the smile of 
heaven, and make pancakes of it, and you will get inflammation of 
the stomach, a diseased liver, bad kidneys, dead hair, sores, pimples, 
and ulcerous tendencies ; yet the men who manufacture pancake 
flours claim them to cure dyspepsia and to aid digestion ; the very 
things they will not do. Children fed on pancakes for breakfast 
are unfit for study or work. It is amusing to note how many pan¬ 
cake-fed girls are taken from school because ‘ ‘ the lessons are so 
hard,” or because “ competitive examinations are very taxing to 
the brain . 1 ’ The fact is that the quickest way to get a headache is 
to eat pancakes. Many things are advertised in the name of the 
Ralston Health Club that are fraudulent. In order to know just 
what is endorsed, send a stamped and directed envelope to the 
Ralston Health Club, Washington, D. C., for the Rules of the 
Club, and if concerns and their goods are not mentioned in the 
rules they are not authorized to use the name of the Club. No 
other guide should be followed if you wish to be perfectly safe. 

Ordinary cake may become a source of great injury 
to the health. In the first place it is nothing but bread loaded 
with richness to make it more palatable. It destroys a normal 
appetite by making wholesome food less desired. This is its 
negative fault. It is also a positive evil, in that it leads to a dis¬ 
ordered stomach, foul liver and impure blood. It imparts no 
strength, but destroys much of that obtained from other food. On 
what theory it is eaten it is hard to discover, except that it tastes 
nice; and is not immediately poisonous. Of these evils of diet 
there are some that are less injurious than others; and there are a 
few that are wholesome. Thus, custard pie is nearly always a 
good article of food; the custard being more beneficial than the 
crust is deleterious. This proposition answers the question some¬ 
times asked, why the book of Ralston Model Meals allows pud¬ 
dings, pies and cakes; and thus contradicts the doctrines of the 


LEAVING CHILDHOOD 


181 


club. There are many puddings, some pies and a few cakes that 
are partly wholesome; and, as humanity will eat such things at 
all events, it is policy to prescribe the best. Neither do we 
believe in absolutely radical views on any subject. 

The question of meat is the most perplexing of all. It has 
been discussed over and over again in our books, and in the early 
pages of this volume. In leaving childhood, the problem becomes 
a serious one, as its bearings upon the health and conduct of the 
young man and young woman are apparent. The sin that is so 
frequent at this time, may be safely charged to an excess of meat 
in the diet; for its prevention, even against all inducements, has 
been accomplished in families where meat is excluded, or is given 
in a limited quantity. The whole matter has been exhaustively 
dealt with in other works, and the conclusions seem to warrant 
the belief that there is no other remedy for the evil. It is needless 
to say that there is as much value in the broth in which the meat 
is properly cooked, as in the meat itself ; and that grains yield a 
larger value than either. It is the fibre of the flesh that carries 
danger; for in it there seems to be all the concentrated viciousness 
of the animal that bred it. The human body is necessarily a re¬ 
production of the nature and character of the food it assimilates. 








CHAPTER XXV. 


LAWS OF CHILD LIFE. 


A S we bring this volume to a close, our purpose is to 
present in a very informal manner the principal laws that 
govern the life, diet, treatment and training of children ; 
applicable, for the most part, to the boy and girl rather than to the 
infant, but including references to all periods from birth to matu¬ 
rity. They state, in succinct form, some of the principles and rules 
laid down in preceding chapters, as well as matters that are new. 
They serve as an index to the person familiar with this book; to 
others it need be said that the work is not intended for mere refer¬ 
ence, but to be studied and understood. 

BEFORE BIRTH. 

1. The rank which the child occupies in the scale of humanity 
is determined by the rank of the father. 

2. The character or quality of the child in its rank is deter¬ 
mined by the nature of the mother. 

3. Sex is determined by the superior physical and vital nutri¬ 
ment of either parent at the moment of origin. 

4. Insanity and imbecility do not decrease in subsequent gen¬ 
erations, and may be exterminated only by extinction of the line. 

5. Criminal tendencies are diminished only by supremacy of 
Caucasian blood. 

6. All criminal Caucasians inherit blood mixed with non-racial 
blood. 

7. A pure-bred Caucasian is incapable of committing crime in 
the sense of being a criminal by instinct or desire. 

8. The welfare of the nation depends upon the supremacy of 
its Caucasian population. 

9. While it is difficult to find pure-blood Caucasians, yet the 
following peoples are nearest in approach to such rank : English, 
Germans, Scots, Irish, Welsh, Scandinavians. Under the English 
are included their descendants everywhere. 

10. The following Caucasian peoples are more or less mixed 
with anti-racial blood: French, Italians, Russians, Austrians, 
Huns, Slavs, and nearly all the rest of Europe. 

( 182 ) 




LEAVING CHILDHOOD 


183 . 


11. The following peoples are anti-racials: Spanish, Turks, 
Mongolians, Negroes, Malays and Indians. 

12. If all male anti-racials were prevented from propagating 
the world would steadily improve, crime and imbecility would de¬ 
crease, and morality, as well as civilization, would increase. 

13. The Caucasians owe a solemn debt to the future, which 
can be paid only by enacting laws requiring emasculation of all 
males who ought not to be allowed to become parents. 

AT BIRTH. 

14. The safety of the mother or the child cannot be guaranteed 
by science or skill, but must be provided for in advance by diet 
and regime. 

15. Diet should include a specified selection of foods. See- 
Chapter XII. 

16. Exercise should consist of movements arranged so as to 
balance one another, employ different sets of muscles in turn, in¬ 
volve the impulse of play and produce flexibility as well as strength. 
The physical exercises, known as Ralston Culture, furnish the only 
system of this kind in existence. 

DURING INFANCY. 

17. Nature intends the health of the child to be better than 
that of the parents. 

18. Given a fair start, no infant will ever have a moment’s 
sickness, unless it is due to some mistake made by the person in 
charge of it. 

19. Barley and milk, malted, make the best food for infants. 
Take of barley meal one tablespoonful and one teaspoonful, to 
which add one quart of cold water, and one-third of a teaspoonful 
of extract of malt. Boil ten to twelve minutes. Then add milk. 

20. A little salt is required by an infant. 

21. A baby should have no variety of food until ten or eleven 
months old ; one kind is best for it. 

22. Cow’s milk has three points against it as food for infants; 
it makes more hard curd than the mother’s milk; it has more acid; 
and it has less fat or sugar. To correct the curd, add water, or 
extract of malt; to correct the acid, add very little lime water ; to 
increase the fat or sugar, add a little cream. 

23. Babies get very thirsty and should drink often. 

24. When suffering from diarrhoea they should drink less in 
quantity, but as frequently. 


184 


CHILD LIFE 


25. When their mouth is inflamed from teething, ice may be 
taken to relieve the heat. 

26. Young babies should be fed every two hours during the 
day, and two or three times at night. 

27. The plan of training infants to eat once in every two hours ; 
then once in every two and a half hours; then once in every three 
hours; then once in every four hours; then once in every five 
hours ; is wrong in the last two parts. 

28. The stomach of an adult can very well take light food once 
every three hours or less p and that of an infant should not be 
longer delayed if it ‘appears hungry. 

29. A sleeping baby should not be awakened, unless it sleeps 
more than twenty hours a day. 

30. If it goes to sleep on its left side, the liver, which is very 
large in infancy, will press on the stomach and cause nervous irri¬ 
tation, leading to wakefulness and bad dreams. 

31. Sleepless and troublesome infants have been found docile 
and easy to put to sleep by laying them on their right side ; and 
turning them upon the left after an hour or two. 

32. Sleeping on one side all the time bends the spine and leads 
to curvature. 

33. The nursing child should, if the alternation permits, take 
the left breast before being put to sleep. 

The care and treatment of children in sickness will be stated 
in the following laws, which apply to all ages : 

34. Ankles. As the entire weight of the body is supported 
upon the muscles at the smallest part of the legs, these require 
natural development. The child should use them as much as 
possible, though with caution. 

35. Lifting or carrying a child of any age is not good for it. 
A baby that is held much does not develop rapidly; and will 
always he known as a backward child. 

36. Confinement in-doors when the weather outside is invit¬ 
ing, will delay the growth of the hoy or girl. 

37. Asthma. This is a spasmodic contraction of the pas¬ 
sages leading into the lungs; and makes the breathing very diffi¬ 
cult. The best food is soup of all kinds, fish, eggs, and grains, 
with rice and milk, or rice-custards for the evening meal. Full 
chest breathing in the open air, through the nostrils, with the 
mouth closed, will overcome the disease. 


LEAVING CHILDHOOD 


186 


38. Bananas, as found in the stores of this country, are 
dangerous. While they may not do injury at one time, they are 
treacherous and sooner or later do great damage. 

39. Bathing is necessary to avoid skin disease, and to main¬ 
tain the functions of elimination ; that is, to expel poisons from 
the blood that cannot escape in any other way. There are three 
kinds of baths. 

40. A hot bath is very cleansing, but very exhausting. Once 
a week is as often as any person young or old should attempt it. 

41. A warm bath should be at 98®, or blood heat. It is good 
every day, if the system can endure it. 

42. A dry bath is taken by chafing the skin with a towel. 
This is a substitute for the water bath. 

43. Where the system is weak, a wet bath is not advised. 
Over half the colds caught in cool or cold weather, are the result 
of bathing. 

44. Bed sores. The lack of exercise tends to form weak 
flesh ; as all flesh quickly decays when vitality leaves it. Lying 
in bed, on the same principle, causes running sores of the weak¬ 
ened flesh. These may be prevented by rubbing the part when 
first chafed, using alcohol freely on the place, and then covering 
it with French powder. 

45. Beef juice. All the value of meat is in its freed fluid, 
not merely in the liquid that flows from the surface. When a 
child is over a year of age, say about eighteen months, this may 
be given in the form of tea, broth, or soup. As it tends to produce 
diarrhoea, it should be omitted when that ailment is feared. 

46. Meat fibre is a source of great danger to persons of all 
ages. Gastritis seems to be due solely to this cause. 

47. Boils. These appear generally between the ages of seven 
and fifteen. They are due to weak blood and dry skin, over 
which the clothing chafes. The remedy is to rub the part with 
thick cream or butter. If the pimple is cauterized, a boil may 
always be prevented. Dip a wooden toothpick in pure carbolic 
acid and touch the pimple directly at the point. 

48. Bow-leg. This, as well as knock-knees, is due to a dis¬ 
eased condition of the bones known as rickets. It is a mistake to 
charge it to standing too early on the feet. 

49. Chafing of the skin is prevented by powdering; and, 
when washing, by adding thin boiled starch to the water. 


186 


CHILD LIFE 


50. Chapping. The hands often become roughened by the 
cold air. Every night, after gently washing in luke-warm water, 
put on a little of the following mixture: glycerine, three teaspoon¬ 
fuls; rose-water, four tablespoonfuls; compound tincture of benzoin, 
half a teaspoonful. Wear gloves all night. 

51. Chicken-pox is a very mild malady. It is prevented by 
out-door exercise, good food and ventilation. 

52. Constipation. A child, at any age, from a week to the 
period of youth, is likely to be constipated, and just as likely to 
be loose. It is all due to the diet. Massage of the abdomen with 
warm sweet oil; that is, gently rubbing and kneading the flesh; 
will generally relieve the trouble. 

53. Avoid too much castor oil and all patent cathartics, as 
they produce greater constipation as a reaction after relief. 

54. An enema of two tablespoonfuls of warm sweet oil will 
produce relief. 

55. An injection of molasses candy, shaped to the size of a 
lead pencil two inches long, will prove very effectual. 

56. A teaspoonful of thick prune water strained, given to 
infant every morning on arising, is a natural remedy. A table- 
spoonful may be given to a child over a year old. 

57. Croup. This is discussed in previous chapters. 

58. Dandruff is due to poor blood and lack of oil or fat in 
the food. Increase the use of butter, bacon, and fat boiled ham. 
Avoid a fine-tooth comb. Rub in the scalp each night for a week 
or more, some compound camphor liniment. 

59. Diarrhoea is as common as constipation. It is of green¬ 
ish color and watery appearance ; and is caused by indigestion. 
Castor oil produces relief by purging the intestines and removing 
the cause of the trouble. A teaspoonful is sufficient for a child 
under a year old ; and this may be increased to a tablespoonful for 
a boy or girl. A permanent cure is had by attention to the diet. 

60. Diphtheria is discussed in previous chapters. 

61. Freckles may be removed by continual washing with 
buttermilk or lactic acid ; the latter being mixed with water, half- 
and-half. To prevent freckles, never let the sun strike the face. 

62. Headaches are caused by rich cake, too much white 
bread, pancakes and fried foods. 

63. Neuralgic-headache, generally located in the eye-balls, 
temples, or back of head, may be caused by straining the eyes, or 
reading lying doAvn. 


LEAVING CHILDHOOD 


187 


64. Indigestion is caused by a senseless diet. Human beings 
eat stuff that would kill a horse ; and then wonder why they have 
dyspepsia. It is the most surprising thing imaginable that they 
will not give a horse or a cow food that will make the brute species 
sick, yet will abuse every law of sense or science in what they take 
themselves, and expect health. The amazing fact is that they try 
to get cured while continuing the abuse of their stomachs ; as if it 
would be good judgment to feed a horse with fried potatoes, pastry, 
cakes, pork and rich sauces, and doctor him while persevering in 
the abnormal diet. The remedy for indigestion is to remove its 
cause ; then nature steps in and cures the evil. 

65. Itch. This is generally caught from others. It is due to 
a parasite or worm-insect that burrows under the skin. Hot water 
should be applied as frequently as possible, almost scalding the 
skin ; and then followed by sulphur ointment. 

66. Laxatives are either natural or medicinal. The best of 
the natural are prune juice and orange juice given on arising in the 
morning. Of course the prunes must be well cooked. 

67. Lung-troubles are to be carefully guarded against. They 
destroy the lives of many infants. The best plan is to teach the 
child to prefer wholesome food, to let it have the pure air, and 
prevent it from over-exercising. Deep-breathing should be a part 
of its education. 

68. Measles. This is a common malady among children. 
It can always be avoided. When the child is attacked the two 
chief matters to be kept in mind are the eyes and chest. The room 
must be darkened to save the eyes; and the temperature should be 
kept at 69° to prevent driving the disease in upon the lungs. With 
an observance of these two precautions, the malady will run safely 
through to convalescence. 

69. Mumps. This is a swelling of the glands under the ears, 
at the corner of the jawbone. Acids cause intense pain and should 
be avoided. To prevent a spreading of the swelling to other 
glands, care should be taken not to catch cold. If only one side 
is swollen the disease generally comes again to the other side. 

70. Nervousness. This is almost always due to eating meat 
fibre, especially when the child is too young. The use of soups, 
broths and meat juices in any form, as well as the prepared grains, 
is generally a means of cure; but there must be plenty of out-door 
exercise, and a variety of duties each day demanding attention. 


188 


CHILD LIFE 


71. Nettle rash is sometimes known as hives. It appears 
in large white blotches on the skin. Strawberries, bananas, to¬ 
matoes, encumbers, green fruit, and especially oatmeal, or oats in 
any form, are apt to cause this trouble. Changing the diet effects 
a permanent cure. Ammonia water relieves the itching. 

72. Overfeeding is often the cause of skin eruptions, as well 
as intestinal disarrangement. 

73. Paralysis in children may appear soon after the molar 
teeth are through. It goes away of itself; but it is well to keep 
the child active, and not allow the bowels to become constipated. 

74. Parasites in the hair, or insects caught from other chil¬ 
dren, should be killed by bathing the scalp in kerosene oil. It is 
a safe and thorough remedy. After the application the head should 
be washed with soap and water, then rinsed with water. After this 
is done, the hair may be soaked in vinegar to kill the eggs or nits. 

75. Paregoric should never be given to children. It contains 
opium, and it is dangerous in that it destroys part of the vitality 
of the heart that can never be fully restored. Nurses and attend¬ 
ants, to save themselves trouble, often give paregoric to children, 
to put them to sleep. It can generally be ascertained if this is done 
by examining the pupils of the eyes, which will be much con¬ 
tracted. Babies that cry for nothing but thirst are often put to 
sleep with paregoric, and the lack of water for which they are 
suffering leads to disease and death. 

7 6. Pneumonia, or inflammation of the lungs, is now known 
to be one of the most common of diseases among children, and one 
of the most dangerous. Like all else, it may be prevented by 
keeping the vitality high through the means of pure air, good ex¬ 
ercise, and wholesome diet, and avoiding exposure to dampness 
and draughts. 

77. Breathing sewer gas is a direct cause of pneumonia, for it 
destroys in a very short time the vitality of the lungs. It is, there¬ 
fore, highly important that an expert should examine the plumbing 
about the house. This one defect alone sends many persons to 
their graves, and the physician rarely ever knows the true cause. 

78. In all sick rooms it is important to keep the temperature 
at 69° degrees, for if too high the extra heat denotes lack of ven¬ 
tilation, and if too low it incurs the risk of adding coldness, damp¬ 
ness, and consequent inflammation to the malady. 

79. The patient lives more on pure air, as cool as can be 
obtained, without falling below 68°, than on anything else. 


LEAVING CHILDHOOD 


189 


80. Air in a sick room should be kept moving, yet the patient 
must not he in the draught. 

81. Poison is of two kinds, external and internal. 

82. External poison comes from handling weeds, or any sub¬ 
stance that causes the skin to suffer. Ammonia and water will 
allay the itching. A solution of baking soda is also good. 

83. When poison enters the stomach the very first thing to do 
is to give an emetic. 

84. An emetic may be made in various ways. Tepid water 
is the basis, and some persons find this sufficient, but the addition 
of a dessertspoonful of mustard, or of a tablespoonful of salt in a 
glass of tepid water is more effective. It should be repeated until 
the stomach acts. The latter may be hastened by putting the 
finger in the throat and vibrating it. 

85. After the stomach has been emptied of its contents, a dose 
of castor oil should be given to cleanse it of all bad after-effects. 

86. A stomach pump may be devised as follows, in the 
absence of a physician. Get a rubber tube three or four feet long, 
such as may be found attached to a syringe. Place one end of it 
in the mouth, and run it down the throat as far as possible. Lift 
the other end in which a funnel has been placed, and pour the 
emetic down this, filling the tube. Lower the funnel end until it 
is below the height of the stomach, and the fluid contents of the 
other will be brought out. In many cases this completely empties 
the stomach. 

87. Toad-stools, poisonous berries, or other things from the 
woods are eaten sometimes by children. The principle is the same: 
an emetic of mustard or salt, followed, after action, by a dose of 
castor oil. 

88. Rashes occur at any time, and from any cause, though 
in young children usually from teething. To allay the itching, 
dissolve baking-soda in water and apply it. Keep the system 
active. Pure air and careful diet will prevent the trouble. 

89. Rickets is a defective bone-growth, and is due to lack of 
proper food or insufficient nutrition. While all the conditions of 
good health should be preserved, special attention should be paid 
to what the child eats. 

90. Starchy food, as from potatoes, white bread and the 
like, cannot be digested easily by the young stomach. Plenty of 
milk should be given. Eggs, first the white, for small children, 


190 


CHILD LIFE 


then the whole egg later on may be added to the diet, as they are 
the most natural of all foods, with milk. Then the grains, of 
which barley is the best. 

91. Nursing’ a child too long will cause a defective formation 
of bones. 

92. Ringworm is a distressing scalp-disease, due to lack of 
nutrition in the food. 

93. It is not caused by a worm, as some claim; but is a fungus 
plant, or cell-change in the tissue growth of the flesh. 

94. It may last for years; but will cure itself when wholesome 
food, pure air, and proper exercise are taken. 

95. Salt-water baths are good for the skin; and may be had by 
putting salt in water. Going to the ocean is not only not neces¬ 
sary, but is often dangerous. 

96. The cure of ringworm and other skin diseases, is best 
effected by giving the most stimulating of foods, such as meat broths 
(always home-made), eggs, and preferred grains. 

97. Patent foods, canned or bottled soups, and concoctions 
not made at home, are apt to result in defective nutrition. 

98. Avoid gelatines and gelatine-soups, as there is no nutri¬ 
tion in this popular kind of food, and the blood quickly becomes 
poor. 

99.. Avoid glucose; it hurts the kidneys. 

100. Avoid fermentations, as of cream in cheese, sour milk, 
•or extracts of malt, or of hops and beers; as all these things build 
flabby flesh, at the expense of the vitality. 

In bringing this volume to a close we wish to advise our 
readers to become students of its pages rather than mere readers. 
It is not a volume of reference; and for that reason we have re¬ 
frained from adding an index. Parents who take no interest in 
the well-being of their children except at the moment when some 
malady fells them, are not warranted, in that moment, in hunting 
through indexes to find stated remedies. The practice is not safe. 
The nature of the life at stake should be well understood and the 
science of treatment acquired by associate reading, not by a para¬ 
graph or two on the subject. The perusal of a good book leads to 
the absorption of its contents ; and this serves as a kind of experi¬ 
ence. The mother well understands the value of knowing what to 
do in advance of the emergency. 



BD-23 & 


LEAVING CHILDHOOD 


191 


In contemplating the laws of child life, which seem 
more numerous than might have been supposed, a few great facts 
-at once attract the attention. These may be counted on the fingers 
of one hand; yet they are capable of revolutionizing the whole 
method of dealing with the care and treatment of children and of 
those who are burdened with the duty of bringing them into the 
world. The suffering and agony of mothers, with the unnecessary 
length of labor whereby their vitality is lowered and brought close 
to the danger mark, are direct contradictions of the purpose of 
nature, which intends that the actual process of child-birth shall 
last but a brief time, and certainly not over an hour. Yet many 
women suffer for a long period, and some of them meet death in 
the struggle. In the light of recent experiments, these mishaps 
-are seen to be blunders chargeable to wrong methods. 

Women who enjoy the freedom and fulness of natural 
health are exempt from all the annoyances to which their sex now 
subjects them; and the perils of child-birth are unknown to them. 
So satisfactory is the proof of this law when tested, that modern 
women of intelligence are rapidly becoming converts to the better 
method. The wife who became a mother while asleep at night, and 
another who delivered a child while journeying from her home to 
a city twenty miles distant, are counterparts of the Indian wives 
of history who gave birth to their children while on the march, 
without even losing their places in the ranks. 

The life and health of the child are too often sacrificed. 
Nature bestows on the infant, at the start, a greater degree of health 
than that which it inherits from its parents. This law is rarely 
ever taken advantage of ; although it seems like a divine provision 
for the betterment of mankind. Sickness in any human being is 
grossly unnatural; in a child it is always the result of ignorance or 
carelessness on the part of the parent or attendant. We stated 
years ago that an infant should be kept in perfect health from the 
moment of its birth until it is, at least, a grown child. Since then 
the truth of this assertion has been verified in many Ralston fami¬ 
lies, who find precaution better than sickness and cure. 

Controlling the sex of the unborn babe seems to be a 
practically settled question at this time. We have stated the old 
as well as the more recent theories, and the manner in which they 
have been proved untrue. Whether a child shall be a boy or a 
girl"is often a matter of importance to the parents. Some have a 


192 


CHILD LIFE 


strong desire for one sex, some for another, merely as matters of 
preference; but vital reasons exist in certain families for such de¬ 
sire. It is well known that royalty best perpetuates its dynasties 
through its male heirs. The two children of the Czar of Russia are 
girls; the nation hoped for boys; and the fear is expressed that the 
emperor’s line will not be continued. As far as intelligence may 
be deemed a proper factor in the reproduction of the race, it should 
be invoked in the solution of this question. 

We are inclined to believe that men and women look 
upon the advent of children as a matter of accident, in which the 
parents are mere agents. The little ones are regarded too often as 
unwelcome visitors; and, when they come into the family, their 
health and lives seem to be problematical, as though some power 
behind existence was to take care of them if it saw fit, or would 
reclaim them back to the great natural fund from which they came, 
in case their vitality was too slight to undertake the battle of living. 
Against this theory is the fact that health and life can be figured 
out on a mathematical basis, and treated as an exact process, with 
far surer results. The time is surely coming when accident and 
haphazard will be relegated to a guilty past; when the child will 
be so fed and cared for that its life will be under the protection of 
the certainties of knowledge; and the Creator will not be charged 
w r ith ‘ ‘ taking away ’ ’ the little helpless blessing, who was born to 
live and grow up into the ranks of human action. 

-^END OF CHIliD lilFE^ 


NOTICE. 

This book, Child Life, is needed in every home; it has 
a solemn mission to perform; and, as a lover of hu¬ 
manity, it is your duty to aid in spreading its influence. 

The Ralston Health Club is a necessity in your life. 
If you are not already a member, but own Child Life, we 
will make you a present of the Book of General Mem¬ 
bership, costing one dollar, if you will sell three copies 
of Child Life to persons whose influence will aid in further 
spreading these doctrines. To obtain this present the 
price of the three copies should be sent in one order, 
$3.75. Address, Ralston Health Club, 1223 to 1231 G 
Street, Washington, D. C. 




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